The James Laughlin Award is given by the Academy of American Poets to recognize and support a rather unusual (and unique) achievement — a poet’s second book of poetry. For 2011, the Laughlin Award was given to Anna Moschovakis for You and Three Others Are Approaching a Lake.
I’ve never read a book of poetry quite like it.
The title suggests a story or a riddle, implying that something is going to happen or unfold, or a challenge or competition is going to begin. Or perhaps a choice is going to be offered. All of these things, or something like them, does indeed happen, as Moschovakis explores technology and technological culture.
And she does that in a kind of story format, using poetry, prose, prose poetry, and even lists to consider technology culture and the place of humans within it, or even if humans have a place.
The poems are divided into six parts — a one-page prologue, a two-page epilogue, and four sections (reminiscent in their own way of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets.) The sections have intriguing titles, each a part of the story and each pulling the read forward: “The Tragedy of Waste, ” “Death as a Way of Life, ” “The Human Machine, ” and “In Search of Wealth.” Each of these sections reads like an extended poem. Here’s a portion from “Death as a Way of Life, which asks questions about language and poetry in the context of technological culture:”
We know
that the worship of science,
logic, art, law, political theory,
fresh fruit, philosophy, conversation,
Yosemite National Park, a woman’s right
To stick to her plan, olives, justice, and
Higher education
can’t kill a church
What can grammar kill?
What can a poem kill?
From there, Moschovakis moves to a combined prose/poetic discussion of Bonnie and Clyde, two people who knew about killing and death. Later on, another character, “Anna” (for the author? will change to Annabot, who undertakes a conversation with the “Human Machine, ” a conversation depicted through a partial playwright script, letters and poems.
As I said, I’ve never read a book of poetry like this one.
You and Three Others Are Approaching a Lake is thought-provoking and unsettling, doing what poetry can often do more effectively than other literary forms — challenge your assumptions by forcing you to consider the familiar in a very unfamiliar way.
It deserved the award. I’m still pondering the question, what can a poem kill?
Post by Glynn Young, author of Dancing Priest: A Novel
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- Poets and Poems: Alfred Nicol and “After the Carnival” - May 8, 2025
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L. L. Barkat says
Sounds fascinating. I’ve always loved playing with the prose/poetry thing.
Maureen Doallas says
This book is in my stack of collections to read. I’ll have to put it on the top of the pile.
davis nancy rosback says
hook, line and ordered…