The future is trying to tell us something : new and selected poems / Joy Ladin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ladin, Joy, 1961- author.

Standardized Title:

Poems. Selections

Language:

English

Genre:

Poetry.

Physical Description:

xii, 268 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Rhinebeck, New York : Sheep Meadow Press, [2017]

Summary:

"As these poems attest, gender transition, like other modes of becoming, is far messier, more mysterious and idiosyncratic than such simplifications allow, a life-long process combining shame with triumph, ecstasy with disappointment, the mundane humiliation of airport security screenings with the miraculous experience of incarnation and fully embodied love"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

New Poems

A Modest Proposal 3

An Exercise in Eden 4

Tarot Readings Daily 5

Christmas Eve 6

Kindness 7

The Poem and Me 8

Speaking of Whiteness 9

Living in the Past 10

It Like Me 11

Wild Genders 12

Letter to My Daughter 13

I, Robot 14

Renewable Energy 15

A Little Bit of Ocean 16

Aubade 17

Height of Summer 18

Letter to the Feminine 19

Letter to Maturity 20

Letter to Death 21

Letter to God 22

Letter to My Body 23

Clearwater Beach 24

The Problem with Death 26

Make America Great Again 28

from Answers to the Name "Lucky"

Early Morning Flight 33

Flourishing 34

Answers to the Name "Lucky" 35

After the Flood 36

A Self 37

Bourgeois Testament 38

Mint Condition 39

Hum 40

Divorce 42

Family and Probate Court 43

Time Passes 44

Not Unlike 45

In this Dream, We Can See Each Other's Dreams 46

from Psalms

I:1 "There's nothing here" 49

I:2 "You scare me the way I scare the rabbit" 51

I:3 "The footsteps of the Lord" 53

I:4 "You want it both ways" 55

I:7 "Joy comes in the morning" 57

I:10 "You like to meet me here" 58

I:12 "This morning we're quiet" 60

II:1 "I want to give you something" 62

II:2 "Seems like you've been gone for years" 63

II:6 "You don't get why I beg you" 64

II:8 "Here you are again" 65

II:9 "You're right - I should stop thinking" 66

II: 13 "You turn out the lights, one by one, in rooms" 68

II:15 "Fireflies flicker" 69

II: 16 "You are making me now" 70

III:1 "I don't, I say, know much about contentment" 71

III:2 "I'm lost, lost in the beautiful world" 72

III:5 "I'm not sure what you want me for" 73

III:4 "You teach me to speak" 74

III:5 "How can I explain" 75

III:8 "It's time the soul you planted in the soil" 77

from Impersonation

Physically 79

Filibustier 80

Commitment Issues 82

Letter to Jonah 83

Wrestling 84

Afterlife 85

The World at Your Feet 92

Rapture 93

Habakkuk Complains 94

Between Wars 98

Photograph 1934 100

Batsheva's Version 101

Apotheosis 103

From "Transit of Venus"

Following the Script 105

Changing the Subject 107

Ready to Know 108

Half the Human Race 110

Passing Through Security 112

Mail for Mr. Jay 113

From "Gender is Not the Only Transition"

My voice is the voice of the life you fear 115

My voice is the voice of becoming 116

Making Love 117

from The Definition of Joy

Spring Break 121

Developmental 122

Sex 123

Kiss 124

Curl 126

Circles 127

Mortal Sin 129

You Can't Be Afraid Of The Pain That Is Coming 130

Gift 131

New England Needlepoint 132

Creationism 133

Unmourning 134

Everything and Nothing 136

North and South 137

Die and Live 138

Disease's Gifts 139

Mr. Pain 140

All of Them are Burning 141

Stand 142

Later 144

One Girl 145

This Morning 147

The Bird That Sings at 3AM 148

Rosh Hashanah 149

Old Deerfield Graveyard 150

Sickness and Health 151

Snowed In 152

Envy 153

Ringing 154

Enough 155

from Coming to Life

Conclusion to a Ritual Marking the Passage from Male to Female 159

The Leopard 161

Winter Rain 162

Return Flight 163

From "Democracy is Burning" (after 9/11)

Prologue: An Aerial Attack with a Religious Center 164

Consuming Encounter 166

Mouth-to-Mouth Rescusitation 167

An Election 169

Death 170

Survival Guide 171

The Grave of Craving 172

Medallion Inscribed with the Hebrew Alphabet in the Shape of a Flame 173

Answer 174

From the sequence "Coming to Life"

Va-yera 175

Coming to Life 176

Girl in a Bottle 178

Even if You Want 180

Fairy Tale Ending 182

from Transmigration

In the Beginning 187

Separation Agreement 188

Valedictory Enjoining Mourning 189

Leaving 190

How to Find the Soul 191

Wait 192

Respiration 193

The Soul is a Threat to Herself and Others 195

Opening 196

9th and 2nd 197

Losing Your Breasts 199

Feeding the Corpse 201

Life in the Crater 203

Life Is 204

Bio 205

The Other I Am 206

From "Maiden Voyage"

Jay 208

Secrets 209

New Year, New Body 211

from The Book of Anna

Opening section (diary entries and first poem) 215

Concluding section (diary entries and last poem) 228

from Alternatives to History

Rabbi José the Angel 251

Terra Incognita 255

One of Them 256

Translating Ecclesiastes 258

The Wheel 260

The Soul Wakes Up on the Wrong Side of the Bed 262

Looking Out the Fifth Floor Window on Fast 11th Street 264

Alternatives to History 265.

ISBN:

9781937679743

1937679748

OCLC:

1005760265