In this searing new volume, Lynn Melnick dives head-first through concentric waves of personal and generational trauma with her trademark fearlessness. Evincing a complex mind shaped by the late 20th centurys misplaced priorities,Refusenikinterrogates misogyny and anti-Semitism across time and a shifting global landscapefrom a football field in Los Angeles to a Russian shtetl to a beloved daughters Brooklyn bedroom. Variously unraveling and allowing for intricate tangles of anger, nostalgia and love, these agile poems furrow deeper into the terrain of Melnicks much-celebrated earlier titles, arriving at a profound and pressured understanding of what it means to be a contemporary American. Audiobook recorded by JBI Library for inclusion in the Yetzirah Audio Poetry Series (YAPS!).
