Poetry. "Laura Goldstein's poems vibrate with urgency—of bodies, of capital, of language, of all the things that comprise us."—Megan Kaminski "Dear Citizen: Our decision is to be human, an act of duration, an active exchange."—Jennifer Karmin

Awesome Camera

Literature & Fiction

Goldstein, Laura

Poetry

Make Now Press

loaded arc is so fine it will rain owls and fathers. -Bernadette Mayer What can the lyric postmodern do in the face of large-scale violence and micro aggressions? Laura Goldstein knows. loaded arc, in pages of intense music, pulls us sonically down deep into truths that are knowable because of beauty. This poetry enacts relationships: hurricane Katrina and inequality, fluctuating bank balances and television, attempts at accounting for everything “because the world/is for falling in love with…” and anxious conceptualizations of fatherhood/homeland. In sure sculpted lines, calling up multiple voices and a wide array of sources, and always maximizing The Word’s out-loud potentials—because utterances can be simultaneously sacred and secular—this book is buoyant, is hope, “is clearly room for action and alternatives can be planned … ” -Jill Magi Laura Goldstein’s loaded arc is a musical triptych, one powered by an engine equal parts surging internal rhyme and propulsive alliteration. Here, rain’s rhythmic patter mirrors reportage’s inability to render in language the contours of event, then our alphabet goes all allegorical, and we’re left to contend with the historical aftermath of a few more burning bushes. Look out whorled, Goldstien’s parting some sees. -Noah Eli Gordon

loaded arc

Trembling Pillow Press

The labyrinthine inhabited alleys of Southwest Washington, D.C., were deplored from their beginnings in the mid-nineteenth century as overcrowded, unhealthy slums, all the more shameful for their proximity to the Capitol dome. But when Godfrey Frankel began exploring the alleys with his camera in 1943, he also found thriving neighborhoods sustained by strong family bonds and a rich community life. Drawn especially to the innocence and dignity of the alley children at play, he returned again and again to photograph them. Published here for the first time and interspersed with the reminiscences of some twenty people who grew up in and near the alleys, the photographs evoke a time when even the worst living conditions were alleviated by the "extended families" each neighborhood formed. Frankel's photographs document a part of Washington that no longer exists. In the 1950s, the alleys were razed in the name of large-scale urban renewal, forcing thousands of longtime residents to move. While most alley dwellers gained better living conditions, many of those interviewed for In the Alleys lament the loss of their once tightly knit community - a loss suffered in poor neighborhoods nationwide during the decades of urban redevelopment. Including an essay on Frankel's life and work, a history of Washington's alleys from the turn of the century onward, and a foreword by photographer Gordon Parks, who documented the same alleys for the Farm Security Administration, In the Alleys captures the strength and vitality of an urban community that now survives only in the memories of its former residents, and in Godfrey Frankel's arresting photographs.

IN THE ALLEYS

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

Smithsonian

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Goldstein, Laura. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Goldstein, Laura