Author: James Goldberg
Title: Let Me Drown With Moses
Beant Kaur Books, 2015. Poetry
Reviewed by Dan Call, October 2019
I got this book hoping that it would do for my poetic mind what Goldberg’s The Five Books of Jesus did for my scripture-reading imagination.
It did, and then some.
For example, I now know about Ghazal, which should be taught in every writing class.
Also, this book re-imagines some venerated stories from LDS, Christian, and Jewish lore, sometimes imbuing them with a humanity we rarely see (such as Joseph Smith, Sr., ca. 1812), sometimes with awe inspiring acts of faith (the title poem). Other times we get a tragicomic, but not at all irreverent twist (like Nephi in the style of Johnny Cash).
I was completely blindsided by the power of the poems on the Provo War (of which I knew nothing, in spite of having been raised less than 60 miles away from where it took place.) They will find their way into my classroom, no doubt.
Goldberg’s unique and varied talents are on full display here, and I can’t wait to get my hands on more of his work.