Accents Publishing released ten books in 2015.
Once there was a certain King who prickedIt ran and ran. It ran until all the rivers
and streams in the kingdom ran red. Then
the fields turned red and everything that grew
in them, corn, barley, soon the milk from the cows
and goats. And when the Princess wept for her father
her tears ran red. And then he died. He was buried
without pomp in the red earth, leaving
the kingdom in disarray—the Queen
took to muscatel and her royal bed, attended
by seven simpering knaves. The Minister of Finance
retired to the counting house to count up the money.
There was plenty. He issued an edict forthwith
forbidding the pleasures of hunting, dancing, racing
and conversing, then galloped by horseback out
of the kingdom, followed by a pack of 42 mules
hauling coffers of sovereigns. And thus
the wealth of the kingdom was carted away.
The kingdom languished under a shroud
of thirst. But over time a particular flower
thrived, which the Princess, a botanist, named
amaranthus caudatus, love-lies-bleeding.
-Barbara Goldberg,
Kingdom of Speculation
(Accents Publishing)
Barbara Goldberg is the author of four prize-winning books of poetry, including The Royal Baker’s Daughter, winner of the Felix Pollak Poetry Award. She is the translator of Scorched by the Sun, poems by the Israeli poet Moshe Dor. The two selected and translated four anthologies of contemporary Israeli poetry. Goldberg received two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as awards in translation, fiction and speechwriting. Her poems appear in Best American Poetry, Paris Review, Poetry and elsewhere, Goldberg is the series editor of the Word Works’ International Imprint.
Eggs coddled or poached are the food
of choice in the Kingdom of Speculation
for eggs are exceedingly rare and stored
in brooders. Brooders are guarded by men
who sport checkered vests and twirl
batons. To steal an egg is to be beaten
to death and the graves of thieves
are stacked like dominoes at the edge
of town. The rich feast on eggs
while the poor eat dumplings which look
like eggs but sink in the belly. Chickens
are revered, the most popular tunes
being hymns composed in their honor.
In this Kingdom only the weather is fair
and the air holds the scent of cardamom.
Overhead birds fly ignored, singing
an ostinato: what if, what if, what if.
-Barbara Goldberg,
Kingdom of Speculation
(Accents Publishing)
Barbara Goldberg is the author of four prize-winning books of poetry, including The Royal Baker’s Daughter, winner of the Felix Pollak Poetry Award. She is the translator of Scorched by the Sun, poems by the Israeli poet Moshe Dor. The two selected and translated four anthologies of contemporary Israeli poetry. Goldberg received two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as awards in translation, fiction and speechwriting. Her poems appear in Best American Poetry, Paris Review, Poetry and elsewhere, Goldberg is the series editor of the Word Works’ International Imprint.
he’s heavy. If she ties herself to him
she’ll sink. But oh the liquefaction
of the sheets, and oh wouldn’t she expire
in the rapture of that deep. Silver
flashes slick off the tundra, elusive
as flight. In his wake, a killing
freeze, an excess of courtesy. At first
gold’s glitter dazzles, his overflowing
pockets. Fortuna is his mother, but
his expression’s a trifle stupid. How’s
a princess to rule with no casket
for her jewels? At this hour the shops
are closed. The graveyard beckons
but the coffins are sealed with old
remains. She’s been here before,
her legacy these ruby scars, those
smoky pearls. Let her string them
on a flaxen thread for all to see.
Let them incite the mercy of thieves.
Let her step forth in the ancestral land
accompanied by her own two hands.
-Barbara Goldberg,
Kingdom of Speculation
(Accents Publishing)
Barbara Goldberg is the author of four prize-winning books of poetry, including The Royal Baker’s Daughter, winner of the Felix Pollak Poetry Award. She is the translator ofScorched by the Sun, poems by the Israeli poet Moshe Dor. The two selected and translated four anthologies of contemporary Israeli poetry. Goldberg received two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as awards in translation, fiction and speechwriting. Her poems appear in Best American Poetry, Paris Review, Poetry and elsewhere, Goldberg is the series editor of the Word Works’ International Imprint.
James Pfeiffer: This collection presents a new world to its reader—one that may be inhabited by some seemingly familiar characters, but which is governed by its own unique set of rules. (Where else are eggs kept under lock, key, and the protection of armed guards?) And the characters themselves are involved in a bit of world-building, and seem to take delight in it—I’m thinking of the Princess classifying plants throughout the kingdom, finding herself caught up in the “elation of naming.” I wonder if you found yourself in a similar state of elation as you defined your world. Are there pleasures in world-building as a writer? And how would you describe the pleasures of encountering world as a reader?
Barbara Goldberg: I love traveling to new worlds—especially from the safety of my own chair. That’s also reflected in my reading preferences: from A Child’s Garden of Verse (I especially liked the wrought iron gates and the woodsy green landscape beyond); to Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities (the more fabulous his cities, the more stringent the rules); to Julio Cortazar, who makes the ordinary magical—forks, spoons, watches, all with lives of their own. I am very attracted to magic realism and world literature that open possibilities not bound by laws of nature. Continue reading
Accents Publishing is proud to announce that Barbara Goldberg’s Kingdom of Speculation is now available from the Accents Store.
“In this book you will be under the spell of imagination that is truly impressive. But, more than that: you will fall in love with Barbara Goldberg’s syntax. The way her sentence works against her line-breaks, creating fireworks, is a fairy tale in and of itself. Her poems are magical, not because they contain princesses and ravens and thieves of eggs. They are magical because their music grabs us and won’t let us be. The secret to true music cannot be understood. It can only be applauded.”
—Ilya Kaminsky,
Author of Dancing in Odessa
Kingdom of Speculation is available from the Accents Store.
Barbara Goldberg is the author of four prize-winning books of poetry, including The Royal Baker’s Daughter, winner of the Felix Pollak Poetry Award. She is the translator of Scorched by the Sun, poems by the Israeli poet Moshe Dor. The two selected and translated four anthologies of contemporary Israeli poetry. Goldberg received two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as awards in translation, fiction and speechwriting. Her poems appear in Best American Poetry, Paris Review, Poetry and elsewhere, Goldberg is the series editor of the Word Works’ International Imprint.
