From Publishers Weekly
In his first book, Chess asks urgent questions about the ways in which Jewish history (recent and Biblical) shapes individual life. The poetry offers moments of narrative and sudden illuminations, exploring how humans and the divine communicate. Chess's images can be startling, rich with empathy, loneliness and intimacy. But at times he allows himself unoriginal language that tends to obscure feeling. And occasionally he stops short, as if before a gate leading to further complexity. The poems can also waver confusingly among pronouns, or acquiesce to imprecise verbs; but they are capable, too, of wit and tenderness. The best work is moving and direct, as seen in Chess's final poem, "Tekiah Gedolah," a passionate account of the binding of Isaac in which the blasting call, or tekiah, of the ram's horn expresses a child's unspoken anguish and rage. Here Chess calls on himself, for those who have been silenced, to restore language.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
After The Ritual Purification
At The Rabbi's Study Group
Baby Boomer
Bless Us With Peace, Angels Of Peace
David's Body
The Drunk Rabbi
The End Of The Retreat
The Eve Of Rosh Hashanah, 500 Years After The Inquisition
Father
From The Introduction To The New Revised Prayer Book
God
The Good Jew
Growing Up In A Jewish Neighborhood
Guardians -- Variations On A Theme From Psalm 34
Harvest Booth
Holocaust Day
The Jewish Angel
The Knot
Lovers Of Torah
Making Cain
My People
New Song
Noah's Death Mask
Notes From A Jewish Suburb: Dreams
Notes From A Jewish Suburb: Grief
Notes From A Jewish Suburb: Marriage
Notes From A Jewish Suburb: Prayer
Notes From A Jewish Suburb: Work
Nothing But Pleasure
Ofra Haza
Prayer For The Bride
The Rabbi Disturbed
Rabbi In The Garden
The Rabbi Masturbates
Rabbi Qua Mystic
The Rabbi Who Does Not Observe
The Rabbi's Hand
The Rabbi's Sabbatical
The Rabbi's Tongue
The Rabbi's Wife
The Rest Of The Year
Rock And Redeemer
The Skin That Shelters
Survivors
Tekiah Gedolah
The Tenth Emanation Of Creation
That's How It Is
Trip To The Museum
Two And One
Tzimtzum: Contraction
The Week
With The Blast Of The Ram's Horn
Witnesses
The Wrestler
Yiddish Poets In America
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®
At The Rabbi's Study Group
Baby Boomer
Bless Us With Peace, Angels Of Peace
David's Body
The Drunk Rabbi
The End Of The Retreat
The Eve Of Rosh Hashanah, 500 Years After The Inquisition
Father
From The Introduction To The New Revised Prayer Book
God
The Good Jew
Growing Up In A Jewish Neighborhood
Guardians -- Variations On A Theme From Psalm 34
Harvest Booth
Holocaust Day
The Jewish Angel
The Knot
Lovers Of Torah
Making Cain
My People
New Song
Noah's Death Mask
Notes From A Jewish Suburb: Dreams
Notes From A Jewish Suburb: Grief
Notes From A Jewish Suburb: Marriage
Notes From A Jewish Suburb: Prayer
Notes From A Jewish Suburb: Work
Nothing But Pleasure
Ofra Haza
Prayer For The Bride
The Rabbi Disturbed
Rabbi In The Garden
The Rabbi Masturbates
Rabbi Qua Mystic
The Rabbi Who Does Not Observe
The Rabbi's Hand
The Rabbi's Sabbatical
The Rabbi's Tongue
The Rabbi's Wife
The Rest Of The Year
Rock And Redeemer
The Skin That Shelters
Survivors
Tekiah Gedolah
The Tenth Emanation Of Creation
That's How It Is
Trip To The Museum
Two And One
Tzimtzum: Contraction
The Week
With The Blast Of The Ram's Horn
Witnesses
The Wrestler
Yiddish Poets In America
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®
