So where are we? : poems

"A new collection from a poet who gives us new hope for the resourcefulness of humanity, and of poetry (John Ashbery) So where are we? Lawrence Joseph asks in the title poem of his powerful and moving sixth book. Beginning where his acclaimed collection Into It left off, amidst the worldwide violence unleashed by the World Trade Center terrorist attacks, Joseph's poems--global and historic in scope--boldly encounter the imaginative challenges of our time, issues of political economy and labor and capital, addressing the point at which / violence becomes ontology, / these endless ambitious experiments in destruction, / a species grief. Set against these realities, Joseph presents an intimate, sensuous language of beauty and love, a separate/ palette kept for each poem, a constant shifting and fluid play of sound and tone. With incisive intensity, intelligence, and emotional force, Joseph speaks from deep within the truths of poetry's common language." “So where are we?” asks Lawrence Joseph in the title poem of his powerful and moving sixth book of poetry. Beginning where his acclaimed collection Into It left off, amid the worldwide violence unleashed by the World Trade Center terrorist attack, Joseph’s poems—global and historic in scope—boldly encounter the imaginative challenges of our time: issues of political economy, labor and capital, racism and war, and “the point at which / violence becomes ontology, / these endless ambitious experiments in destruction, / a species grief.” Against these realities, Joseph presents an intimate, sensuous language of beauty and love, “a separate / palette kept for each poem,” a constant shifting and fluid play of sound and tone. With incisive intensity, intelligence, emotional force, and fierce, uncompromising vision, Joseph speaks from deep within the truths of poetry’s common language. So Where Are We? is extraordinary new work from one of our most distinctive poets. "So where are we? Lawrence Joseph asks in the title poem of his powerful and moving sixth book. Beginning where his acclaimed collection Into It left off, amidst the worldwide violence unleashed by the World Trade Center terrorist attacks, Joseph's poems--global and historic in scope--boldly encounter the imaginative challenges of our time, issues of political economy and labor and capital, addressing the 'point at which / violence becomes ontology, / these endless ambitious experiments in destruction, / a species grief.' Set against these realities, Joseph presents an intimate, sensuous language of beauty and love, 'a separate/ palette kept for each poem, ' a constant shifting and fluid play of sound and tone. With incisive intensity, intelligence, and emotional force, Joseph speaks from deep within the truths of poetry's common language."-- Page 4 of cover A fable -- So where are we? -- In a post-bubble credit-collapse environment -- On nature -- Syria -- Here in a state of tectonic tension -- An ancient clarity overlaid -- On Utopia Parkway -- Visions of labor -- Who talks like that? -- In that city, in those circles -- Water Street -- That September and October -- In parentheses -- In this language, in war's revolutions -- Made of this, sensory fact -- Of what we know now -- In one days annals -- On peripheries of the imperium -- Is what it is -- And for the record -- Back to that -- What more is there to say?