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Into It: Poems
Strikingly contemporary new work by an acclaimed poet
Into It , Lawrence Joseph's fourth book of poems, is as bold a book as any in American poetry today-an attempt to give voice to the extremes of American reality in the time since, as Joseph puts it, "the game changed."
Joseph's first three books dramatized the challenge of maintaining one's self in a world in the hold of dehumanizing forces. The new book finds him in a time and place where "the immense enlargement / of our perspectives is confronted / by a reduction of our powers of action"-where the word "wargame" is a verb and "the weight of violence / is unparalleled in the history / of the species." Along the New York waterfront, on a crowded street, at the site where the World Trade Center Joseph enters into these places to capture the thoughts and images, the colors and feelings, and the language that give the present its pressured complexity. Few contemporary writers have been able to shape this material into poetry, but Joseph has done so masterfully-in poems that are daring, searching, and classically satisfying.
Into It is a new work by a poet of great originality and scope.
Into It , Lawrence Joseph's fourth book of poems, is as bold a book as any in American poetry today-an attempt to give voice to the extremes of American reality in the time since, as Joseph puts it, "the game changed."
Joseph's first three books dramatized the challenge of maintaining one's self in a world in the hold of dehumanizing forces. The new book finds him in a time and place where "the immense enlargement / of our perspectives is confronted / by a reduction of our powers of action"-where the word "wargame" is a verb and "the weight of violence / is unparalleled in the history / of the species." Along the New York waterfront, on a crowded street, at the site where the World Trade Center Joseph enters into these places to capture the thoughts and images, the colors and feelings, and the language that give the present its pressured complexity. Few contemporary writers have been able to shape this material into poetry, but Joseph has done so masterfully-in poems that are daring, searching, and classically satisfying.
Into It is a new work by a poet of great originality and scope.
- GenresPoetry
80 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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About the author
Lawrence Joseph
34 books10 followersLawrence Joseph is a poet and a lawyer.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 18, 2017
Beautiful. Always wonderful to encounter a generous and diligent soul.
Thank you for sharing these poems, and the work and life they required.
Thank you for sharing these poems, and the work and life they required.
June 17, 2016
"Very abstract poems - lots of references that are unknown to me. These poems definitely require multiple readings. Many of them seem to deal with 9/11 although in a very abstract way. The one that deals with the attack more directly ""Why Not Say What Happens?"" doesn't really work for me.
Several of the poems (ex. ""Woodward Avenue"") work with the accretion of seemingly disparate images that build up into something more. Much of the time I don't get it though, which may be due to my inadequate education as well as my lack of patience. He reminds me of Mark Strand, with whose work I also struggle.
Perhaps my favorite poem is ""Metamorphoses (After Ovid)"". At the end it seems to be about writing poetry and whether there is any value to such a practice. And he does call it a practice."
Several of the poems (ex. ""Woodward Avenue"") work with the accretion of seemingly disparate images that build up into something more. Much of the time I don't get it though, which may be due to my inadequate education as well as my lack of patience. He reminds me of Mark Strand, with whose work I also struggle.
Perhaps my favorite poem is ""Metamorphoses (After Ovid)"". At the end it seems to be about writing poetry and whether there is any value to such a practice. And he does call it a practice."
December 3, 2011
Found this to be an uneven book of poetry but when one considers the subject of 9/11 it's easy to understand how it can have such wildly (and widely) different approaches to its subject. My favorite is "Why Not Say What Happens", a nine page poem with language and images I found more accessible than some others in the book. There is anger, blame, wistfulness, and love here but the reader has to look under the weapons of war.
September 13, 2007
a poetry collection about the events surrounding 9/11 that's politically astute and thematically nuanced. i wished i liked the poems more but i appreciate how difficult it is to write gracefully about such a catastrophic event without lapsing into melodrama and sentimentality.
August 18, 2017
Searing and comforting, this challenging, and fearless book contains handmade poetic shocks. At the same time you will find yourself nestled warmly in the aesthetic dimension where (I can only imagine) Mathematical-Platonists believe numbers reside.
August 18, 2017
Holy Shit! This guy goes for the jugular. And I thought I wrote intensely. But the subjects chosen demand it, Lawrence Joseph accomplishes it. You'll be richer for reading it, even when you can't sleep.
August 18, 2017
A clear, intelligent, voice. Steady.
Singing. Lamenting.
Laughing. Communicating.
A pleasurable friend to wait out, and study,
the rain with.
Singing. Lamenting.
Laughing. Communicating.
A pleasurable friend to wait out, and study,
the rain with.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews