Joy Ladin is the author of eleven books of poetry, including recently published Family and National Jewish Book Award winner The Book of Anna, and three books about trans and non-binary identities, Once Out of Nature, National Jewish Book Award finalist Through the Door of Life, and The Soul of the Stranger. Find her here.
LAKE PREMONITION
There's a lake in the dark
and the sound of rafts
drifting in synchronized silence
like starving ballet dancers
There is nothing to fear
that hasn’t already happened
The walls of the apartment
I rarely leave
shimmer like water
The floorboards shift
under my feet
like rafts sliding over
the face of the deep
"SEX" MEANS
(a two-part invention)
this poem is designed to be read on a large screen; on mobile, turn to landscape view
FOR ALAUNTE SCOTT, 2001-2023
(a three-part invention)
this poem is designed to be read on a large screen; on mobile, turn to landscape view
This invented form, composed of phrases drawn from three non-poetic sources, is designed to be read in a peculiar way. Each section is meant both as separate poem and as part of a sequence, and is intended to be read first column by column, from right to left, as though each column is a poem, and then across, as though every phrase is part of a single continuous poem.
Phrases in columns headed “They Hunted My Son” come from "‘They hunted my son’: Mom decries fatal shooting of man by U.S. Marshals” (Washington Post, March 2, 2023); those in columns headed “Lost Princess” come from“The Lost Princess” by Nahman of Bratzlav; those in columns headed “Autistic Child” come from “My Experiences as an Autistic Child” by Temple Grandin.
