Rodger
WWNO READING LIFE INTERVIEW SEEING INTO THE LIFE OF THINGS
It was lovely as always to talk with Susan Larson, New Orleans great advocate for books and authors. In this excerpt we talk about the core of Seeing into the Life of Things. You can listen to the complete show by going to this link: THE READING LIFE | Rodger Kamenetz
Counting Blessings. Excerpt from Seeing Into the Life of Things
A main difference between dreams and poetry is that seeing dream images is involuntary and effortless, while seeing images in words—reading with imagination—requires intention and participation. You can’t speed read poetry. The same is true of memory. I must concentrate to bring images to life. The life that comes to mind this morning is a … Read more
Alice Notley on Poetry and Dreams
Alice Notley (November 8, 1945 – May 19, 2025). I met Alice Notley in the late 60’s when I was an undergraduyate and later while living in Blatimore we did an iterview. In recent years whenever I was in Paris I always looked up Alice and we had lunch together and hung out. our conversations … Read more
DREAMING REALITY
Gabriel Meyer Halevy, peace activist, nomad, composer, musician, and now author, interviews me on his monthly substack, ONCE A MOONTH where we talk about dreams, kabbalah and more. To listen and read the transcript go here
ASTERISM
Asterism Losing infinity I saved up for immediacy. Every hour I put a penny in to see the cornflower open its eye or to hear the thunder mutter proto- names. I borrowed the pennies from the eyelids of dead sailors and paid back in summer stars I could actually name Deneb Altair Vega. Great triangles … Read more
3 Gilguls of The Missing Jew: Gilgul 2
GILGUL 2 1992 In 1992 Time Being Books re-issued an expanded edition, The Missing Jew: New and Selected Poems. I took lines from the old poems and using midrash made new poems from the old. The book now was 101 pages long. About this edition, the great novelist Louise Erdrich was kind enough to write: … Read more
3 Gilguls of The MISSING JEW: Gilgul 3
GILGUL 3: 2022 In the years since I continued to write on Jewish themes, including The Lowercase Jew which Northwestern put out in 2003. I always felt I wanted to expand THE MISSING JEW project and now in its current incarnation comes The Missing Jew: Poems 1976-2022 which encompasses 46 years of work. At 230 … Read more
3 Gilguls of The Missing Jew: GILGUL 1
GILGUL 1 1976 In 1976 after my grandfather David Kamenetz z”l died and my rabbi from childhood, Morris Lieberman died, my friend Dr. Marc Lieberman gave me a copy of all the volumes of the Rodkinson Talmud from his uncle’s library. I had never been exposed to the Talmud, and though the Rodkinson is an … Read more
A Poem for Tisha B’Av
The Ninth of Av –for Maggid Yitzhak Buxbaum, z”l In the rhythm of the year our temple fell. We sat low. As if we might fall again but not as far. We sat low closer to the ground. We had fallen also in the heat of August in the month of Av. Although “I know … Read more