The Golem is a collection that speaks with the voice of a feminist writer who stands on the shoulders of her ancestors, Jewish Hungarian immigrants; I am not one, but two generations erased. Spanning an acrobatic cast of characters, the writing is colloquial and also celebrates inventive structures. The book unfolds in three movements: Past Perfect, Present Tense, and Future Fictitious, charting a course through love, grief, and death to find the courage in being mortal. These poems travel across the United States to visit New York City kitchens, Silicon Valley cubicles, Louisiana bayous, with humorous dips into pop culture, including American TVs Judge Judy, Starbucks, and online dating. Whether wondering about Spinoza, or histories of violence, the poems are written with a fine eye to detail. The last section is a stunning sonnet sequence that totally reinvents the golem myth borrowed from Jewish folklore and the mystical tradition.

Lenore Weiss, an award-winning writer, grew up in New York City with whistle stops along the way in Chicago, Illinois and Sterlington, Louisiana. She makes her home in Oakland, California. Lenore Weiss has blogged for the Jewish Book Council, and taught creative writing classes through San Francisco State University and Kehilla Community Synagogue.