Poetry. California Studies. Winner of the 2010 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry. "Lory Bedikian's THE BOOK OF LAMENTING begins within a foundation of lyricism: 'On the back of every tongue in my family / there is a dove that lives and dies.' Bedikian recognizes the genuine world of the imagination, one we inhabit but often lose sight of--a world with 'floating hieroglyphics of flame, ' where sometimes one must '[e]mpty your pockets / of the noise you carry' and 'count olives / in place of coins.' Wisdom rises up through the losses in Bedikian's poetry. One poem begins: 'The year 1997 rose like a spiral staircase / into a ceiling of darkness.' THE BOOK OF LAMENTING ascends into the darkness in a similar way--bringing us gifts of light and memory, so that the small doves at the back of every tongue might sing."--Brian Turner