Bellocq's Ophelia: Poems

In the early 1900s, E.J. Bellocq photographed prostitutes, which were first collected and published as Storyville Portraits. In Natasha Trethewey's stunning second collection, she creates the life of Ophelia in the image of one of Bellocq's subjects. Through Ophelia, a very white-skinned black woman, living in a brothel, a sad and poignant story is told with beautiful precision and depth. Mississippi native Natasha Trethewey currently lives in Decatur, Georgia, and is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Emory University.