Joy Ladin's most autobiographical and socially engaged collection to date, Family is an intimate exploration of private and public loss, resilience and love. It begins with “haiku suites,” an invented form through which her mother's dementia and the poet's growing disability are glimpsed by the light of a blossoming world. The lyric narratives that follow portray a widening family circle that also includes estranged children, God, targeted trans women, and Trump-era America. The book concludes with “Autobiography of My Whiteness,” a reckoning with Ladin's belated awareness of her place in America's racial hierarchy. Written with an open heart and a formal grace, Family is the latest important work of poetry from a Lambda Literary Award finalist and National Jewish Book Award winner.
