So where are we?

the long version

"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."-- "A stunning and thoughtful new poetry collection"--