Poet, Author, Teacher, Natural Dreamworker
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
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
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
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
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
I wrote this piece about me, Bob Dylan and T.S. Eliot in defense of Dylan’s Nobel Prize. Re-upping it today on his 80th birthday. Happy birthday Bob. https://bit.ly/3ukZ7Ei
Herbert Kearney’s fallen angel is at the heart of this elegy.
Just released Verse of April: Hymn For the Living Poet. I have poems in there in homage to three poet-friends. Kit Robinson, Sabine Huynh, and Bill Lavender. You can find the poems and other homages here.
My friend Richard Katrovas created the Prague Summer Program in the wake of the Velvet Revolution and I was fortunate to teach in it many times in the summer. I got to learn the culture of Prague, especially the Jewish culture of the Jewish Quarter with its twin icons, the Golem and Franz Kafka. Eventually … Read more
My friend Alexis Krasilovsky who is a noted film-maker and author also does graphic art. She read into DREAM LOGIC and produced two illustrations that I wanted to share. I think one of the best ways to read a poem is to write a poem for it, or as she did, to make an art … Read more