Translation is the extrovert, metaphor the introvert. Without translation, there is no communication. Without metaphor, there is no art.

Lost Originals, the latest collection of poetry from writer and scholar David Goldstein, explores the potential of metaphoric translation to contribute to a conversation about originality, the power of objects, and the boundaries of poetry and language.

Taking as his foundation the notion that every act of speaking is a translation from one sort of experience to another, Goldstein's innovative poetic 'experiment' represent an elegy for a series of "lost originals" a group of objects and experiences that can only be accessed through language. In this way, Goldstein's encounters with a menagerie of objects and sources--from porcelain figurines and maps, to computer-generated email spam and journalism about sharks--yield a myriad of voices, giving metaphorical speech to the unspeaking or unspoken, and at the same time, uncovering a surprising beauty in language normally viewed as impenetrable or utilitarian.

David B. Goldstein's poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies throughout North America, including The Paris Review, The Malahat Review, filling Station, CV2, Epoch, Harp & Altar, Jubilat, 6x6, and Octopus. His first chapbook, Been Raw Diction, was published by Dusie Press in 2006. As a literary critic, food writer, and translator, he has published on a wide range of subjects, including Shakespeare, contemporary poetry, translation, cannibalism, philosophies of food, and the politics of Martha Stewart. His first book of criticism, Eating and Ethics in Shakespeare's England, is due out this fall. His translations from Italian poetry appear in The FSG Book of 20th-Century Italian Poetry, among other publications. Goldstein lives with his family in Toronto, where he is Associate Professor of English at York University.

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“Goldstein positions the work in Lost Originals as an act of translation, an attempt to evoke objects that can only be apprehended by the reader through the ghostly echoes of poetic language.” —Canadian Literature

“Goldstein powerfully reminds us of the fragility of construction, form, and language itself.” —The Rusty Toque