Gold — Elaine Feinstein

In Gold Elaine Feinstein brings the narrative skills of her novels directly into her poetry. The book includes an ambitious monologue in the voice of Mozart's librettist, Leonardo da Ponte. An interloper in European culture, he impudently challenges the society that forces him to live on his wits. A comparable estranged clarity runs through several of the longer poems: a familiar world discloses its sinister latencies, its unanticipated beauties. Gold also includes several of her celebrated personal lyrics.