An Individual History describes the fears, anger, and guilt—personal, familial, societal, political, and historical—that comprise a life. The figure of the speaker’s maternal grandmother who was institutionalized for five decades serves as an overriding metaphor for this haunting, bold new work by an essential American poet.
from “An Individual History”
This was before the time of lithium and Zoloft
before mood stabilizers and anxiolytics
and almost all the psychotropic drugs, but not before
thorazine,
which the suicide O’Laughlin called “handcuffs for the
mind.”
It was before, during, and after the time of atomic
fallout,
Auschwitz, the Nakba, DDT, and you could take water
cures,
find solace in quarantines, participate in shunnings,
or stand at Lourdes among the canes and crutches.
- ISBN10 0393082490
- ISBN13 9780393082494
- Publish Date 22 August 2012
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint WW Norton & Co
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 80
- Language English