A Lineage of Ragpickers, Songpluckers, Elegiasts & Jewelers : Selected Poems of Jewish Family Life, 1973-1995

by Albert Goldbarth

168 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1996

About the author

Albert Goldbarth is an American poet born January 31, 1948 in Chicago. He is known for his prolific production, his gregarious tone, his eclectic interests and his distinctive 'talky' style. He has been a Guggenheim fellow and won the National Book Critics Circle award in 1991 and 2001, the only poet to receive the honor two times. He also won the Mark Twain Award for Humorous Poetry, awarded by the Poetry Foundation, in 2008.

Goldbarth received his BA from the University of Illinois in 1969 and his MFA from the University of Iowa in 1971. He is currently distinguished professor of Humanities at Wichita State University, and he teaches in the Low-Residency MFA program in Creative Writing at Converse College.

Reviews

[Tori Thurmond · Rating 2 out of 5]

The poems are more focused in this collection than in other collections of his that I’ve read. It still wasn’t for me though. I found it hard to get emotionally invested.