How Will the Heart Endure?

Alan Catlin fleshes out the complicated life of the photographer Diane Arbus through a vast diversity of perspectives ranging from Sadiko Murakami, Robert Lowell and even the bible (Matthew 17:17) to Arbus' own words in letters and journals. We meet the boy in Central Park with the hand grenade, Eddie Carmel, "the Jewish Giant," Tiny Tim at Hubert's in Times Square and the cavalcade of freaks from Arbus's oeuvre in Catlin's uniquely original poetry, often linking photography and poetry together to produce this complex portrait of the artist. Lisette Model, Richard Avedon, Susan Sontag all weigh in, leading up to the eleven "Untitled" poems that complete this remarkable portrait. As Catlin asks at the end of a poem about Mother Cabrini, a disinterred saint, one of Arbus's subjects, "All of this is normal, right?"

-Charles Rammelkamp, author of The Field of Happiness, A Magician Among the Spirits, and Transcendence

Alan Catlin's poetic sum of images recreates Diane Arbus's beautiful, freaky genius and her twisted personal hell. Covering both her life and her work, this collection provides readers with an unforgettable look at a photographer possessed, a deeply troubled woman who brought to light some of life's darkest subjects.

-Virginia Aronson, author of Little Smiling Hooks (poems on Sylvia Plath)

We've all seen the pictures but what of the woman herself? Diane Arbus was so much more than a photographer of freaks: heiress, wife, mother, sister of a renowned poet, fashion photographer, innovator, creator of a whole new way of seeing that transformed forever the medium she worked in.

-Patrick Allen, poet and reviewer