lyricism: 'On the back of every tongue in my family / there is a dove that lives and dies.' Bedikian recognizes the genuine world of the imagination, one we inhabit but often lose sight of—a world with 'floating hieroglyphics of flame,' where sometimes one must '[e]mpty your pockets / of the noise you carry' and 'count olives / in place of coins.' Wisdom rises up through the losses in Bedikian's poetry. One poem begins: 'The year 1997 rose like a spiral staircase / into a ceiling of darkness.' THE BOOK OF LAMENTING ascends into the darkness in a similar way—bringing us gifts of light and memory, so that the small doves at the back of every tongue might sing."—Brian Turner

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