Customer Reviews

Another Desert

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Excerpts from a longer review by Judith Fein in HADASSAH Magazine August/September 2000: The book is sprinkled with Spanish, Hebrew, Ladino, and Yiddish. It is puctuated with love, questioning, humility, bravado, honesty, longing and anger.... At first the words seem tender and nostalgic and clever, but they begin to gain power as the diverse voices proliferate.... Of all the poems in the book, the Converso section elicits the most excitement. "I think this is because the phenomenon works both historically and metaphorically," Logghe says. "I ask,'What in your life have you kept hidden?' We all have hidden aspects of ourselves. The book is a vehicle for opening up dialoge with Jewsand non-Jews so we should find some common ground and hearts." Read the whole two page review and you will know why this book is a treasure to share.

In this diverse and masterly compilation, New Mexican Jewishpoets explore their Judaic identities as set against a backdrop ofarroyos, chili plants, and arid turquoise skies. Many of the poets are relatively recent transplants from elsewhere in the country, while a few have long made their homes in the Land of Enchantment. One of the Spanish-writing contributors is descended from the first Jews to arrive in New Mexico, fleeing persecution from the Spanish Inquisition in 1598. The theme of exile and searching permeates many of the works, with several poems inspired by the painful past-the Holocaust, the Inquisition. Other writers probe the wonder and strangeness of newly embracing their faith in this unlikely land. There are also numerous reflections on ancestors, family and religious holidays-one poem describes casting bread into the Rio Grande on Rosh Hashanah morning. Libraries serving communities with sizeable Jewish populations should consider this anthology a must purchase. Also recommended anywhere where interest is high in Western or Jewish culture, or just fine poetry.