Lost Originals

Translation is the extrovert, metaphor the introvert. Without translation, there is no communication. Without metaphor, there is no art.

Lost Originals , the latest collection of poetry from writer, scholar, and critic David B. Goldstein, explores the potential of metaphoric translation.

Taking as his foundation the notion that every act of speaking is a translation from one sort of experience to another, Goldstein developed each part of Lost Originals as an act of metaphor and an act of translation, and vice versa.

While skirting a humorous line, Goldstein’s innovative poetic ‘experiments’ ultimately comprise an elegiac collection for a series of “lost originals,” a group of objects and experiences that can only be accessed through language. In this way, Goldstein’s encounters with a menagerie of objects and sources—from porcelain figurines, maps, and soundscapes, to computer-generated email spam, How-To manuals, and journalism about sharks—yield a myriad of voices, giving metaphorical speech to the unspeaking or unspoken, and at the same time, uncovering a hidden and surprising beauty in language normally viewed as impenetrable or utilitarian.

Drawing comparisons to Jody Gladding’s Translation from Bark Beetle (2014) and Susan Howe’s That This (2010), Lost Originals ’ allusive and layered poetics will appeal to readers of poetry and translation who are interested in the power of objects and the boundaries of poetry and language.