Anticipation and awareness bud at the start of a new life and bloom with the wondrous changes that ensue. These lyrical narrative poems rejoice at the insights, emotions, and development of a newborn and her family over a brief period of years. Crafted with an artist's eye and poet's appreciation for the profound that nestles within the mundane, this collection shimmers with reverence and clarity. The trajectory of the poems shudders and shifts when the young girl's father falls ill. With unflinching honesty and compassion, Nudelman gently unwraps luminous, triumphant moments in life's circle of birth, growth, and mortality.
When his finger traces / the nursery mobile / his grin glows / with the tune / of the little zoo. / He puffs paternal, / pink as the tulip / belling in the dawn.
With artful precision, Merle Nudelman reveals the ordinary and extraordinary moments of a child’s life in a language that is both fresh and profound. What results is a poetic that transforms not only how we observe and experience those most dear to us but the concept of life and death itself. At the core, Nudelman’s fourth collection of poetry is celebratory – a poetry of revival that can only come after great loss and great joy, a revival that sustains like the image of her deceased son, Michael, who now is the sturdy “oak” that “shade[s]” those who are left behind.
Laura Lush