Poetry Los Angeles ─ Reading the Essential Poems of the City

Is there such a thing as Los Angeles poetry? Laurence Goldstein’s Poetry Los Angeles: Reading the Essential Poems of the City opens new windows into the L.A. literary world, illuminating sites as distinct as Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice beach, the freeways, downtown, and South Central and East L.A. In Poetry Los Angeles, poets such as Elizabeth Alexander, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Dorothy Barresi, Victoria Chang, Wanda Coleman, Dana Gioia, Joy Harjo, Robert Hass, Garrett Hongo, Carol Muske-Dukes, Frederick Seidel, Gary Soto, Diane Wakoski, and Charles Harper Webb receive close readings as contributors to the unique iconography and poetics of Southern California.

One chapter is devoted to Charles Bukowski, the celebrity face of the city’s poetry, while other chapters consider “Interiors” and “Exteriors” throughout the urban landscape. In clear prose, Poetry Los Angeles examines the strategies by which poets make significant places meaningful and memorable to readers in the U.S. and beyond.

Laurence Goldstein has long been fascinated with Los Angeles, the city of his birth. Goldstein served as editor of the Michigan Quarterly Review from 1977–2000 and has published numerous books, including Writing Ann Arbor: A Literary Anthology. He is Professor of English at the University of Michigan.