Decade of the Brain Poems, Janine Joseph
Decade of the Brain Poems, Janine Joseph
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Decade of the Brain: Poems

Author: Janine Joseph

Narrator: Janine Joseph

Unabridged: 1 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/17/2023


Synopsis

In the deeply personal Decade of the Brain, Janine Joseph writes of a newly-naturalized American citizen who suffers from post-concussive memory loss after a major auto accident.

The collection is an odyssey of what it means to recover—physically and mentally—in the aftermath of trauma and traumatic brain injury, charting when “before” crosses into “after.” Through connected poems, buckling and expansive syntax, ekphrasis, and conjoined poetic forms, Decade of the Brain remembers and misremembers hospital visits, violence and bodily injury, intimate memories, immigration status, family members, and the self. 

After the accident I turned out

all of the lights in the room while I watched,
concussed, from the mirror. I edged like a fever

with nothing on the tip of my tongue.

About Janine Joseph

Born in the Philippines, Janine Joseph is a formerly undocumented poet, librettist, and the author of Decade of the Brain: Poems and the prize-winning Driving Without a License. Her poetry, essays, and critical writings have appeared in numerous publications, including The Nation, the Atlantic, Poetry Northwest, Orion, Poets & Writers, and the Smithsonian’s “What It Means to Be American” project, and she has created works commissioned for the Houston Grand Opera, Washington Master Chorale, and Symphony New Hampshire. A recipient of Fellowships from MacDowell, Bread Loaf, and the Paul and Daisy Soros Foundation, Joseph is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Virginia Tech. She lives in Blacksburg, VA.


Reviews

Goodreads review by B.A. on April 02, 2024

17 January 2023 B.A. Van Sise for the New York Journal of Books “The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around,” quipped Thomas Edison, and he was, of course, right. The brain is the all of us, no matter what we might tell ourselves: brain death is the only true death there is, losing on......more

Goodreads review by Kathleen on January 14, 2023

ABECEDURIAN for Aba Bourdain, in the rerun, says the king of fruit’s Camembert-like custard smells of sun-spoilt death, but the phrase she recalls is dead grandmother, which bites my tongue. How does anyone forget ever eating, ever excavating from the pale lobes of the foie gras fruit, she gasps. We fi......more

Goodreads review by Antonio on February 03, 2024

In ‘Decade of the Brain,’ Janine Joseph explores the process of losing memory as well as the process of creating them after a trauma of head injury. As someone who has suffered brain injury with a life-long impact and coping, I can say how heartbreaking, in a deep emotional emphatic way, it is to re......more

Goodreads review by Summer on April 29, 2023

normally I do a poetry collection over 1-2 sittings but I took about a month with this one b/c it was intense but holy shit what a book, what a book! The build of reverse of volume to the end, goosebumps all the way......more

Goodreads review by Isaac on June 06, 2024

Not for me tbh, but the final poem was nice!......more