Description
Book Synopsis"Through her fervent lyrics, delightful odes and image-rich narratives, Janlori Goldman invites us into her worldand it is a deeply moving one. With fluid, vivid clarity, she valiantly stares at the past, and faces the present with a compelling mix of temerity and tenderness. Hers is a remarkable voice that is all at once passionate and exquisitely subtle." Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Poetry Contest Judge "Seldom have I seen a book of poems so vital in its storytelling, so rich and precise in imagery and metaphor, and at the same time so full of heart and compassion." Alicia Ostriker "An intimate, tender voice tells of a life of sensual gladness, as well as loneliness and grief. The poems most often pay attention to neglected people and neglected truths, often neglected moments, often in the beauty of the earth." Jean Valentine From "At the Cubbyhole Bar": When the planes hit, you were there, saved your men, the whole squad, and they weren't even yours. A buddy had asked you to cover his shift so he could spend the day with his kid. You say, All the guys are getting cancer, in the lungs, the stomach, in your case the breasts. That morning, after the buildings buckled, a brown skirt of cloud billowed up. You saw her, a bleached blond in purple satin shirt, no body below the waist, thought how a human head weighs 8 pounds, lifted that weight of a newborn, and then the rest. Zipped the bag. You wanted to be a cop because you hated cops, wanted to be that power. At the Canal Street barrier a lady pleaded to run home, get her dog you said, No one below Canal but she promised the risk was all on her. You knew it didn't work that way, spoke into her face, Come back with that dog, bring him this way so he can lick my cheek. Janlori Goldman is a poet, teacher, and activist.
Table of ContentsTable of Contents Winter Solstice 1 I. Washing Dishes in Evergreen, Colorado 3 Yom Kippur 5 Bungalow, The Catskills 6 Summer Flu 7 Ode to Jacob Blinder 8 That Chocolate Cake 9 Burying Ground 10 Seed Money, 3rd Grade 11 One Soft Place 12 Home 14 Until Mother Put an End to That 15 Mother, So Happy 16 Ode To Milton Avery’s Speedboat’s Wake, 1972 17 II. At the Cubbyhole Bar 19 The End of the World 20 Amber Cloud 21 Emergency Room 22 Elegy for Your Breasts 23 4 a.m. 24 The Argument 25 Cyclone 26 Elvira 27 The 8th Circle 28 Ode to Blue 29 III. Bread from a Stranger’s Oven 31 Walking Cure 32 She-Grief 33 Cranberries are the Tartest of Fruit 34 Ode to My Gallbladder 35 Japanese Beetles 37 Sergeant Roy’s Reveille 38 Murmuration 39 Baking in the Last Month 40 The Waiting Room 41 The Story, For Now 42 Two Seeds 44 Still Here 45 IV. Chanukah 47 The Language of Math 48 Waiting for Birds 49 Ode to Stretchmarks 50 Bone Hollow Road 51 Tear of the Clouds 52 Catch What Falls 53 Magnolia 54 Knot 55 Ode to Fever 56 Blue Blaze 58 Grapefruit 59
