Sunday, June 22, 2014

How Many Edens Janice Silverman Rebibo




 
How Many Edens

Janice Silverman Rebibo

Coolidge Corner Publishing

Copyright © 2014 by Janice Silverman Rebibo

19 pages, softbound, no price given


Review by Zvi A. Sesling


Janice Silverman Rebibo is at it again, a sexy, sweaty, serious set of poems that once you start the seventeen pages of poems will not stop until you are finished. Then you will read it again. You cannot help keeping yourself from it. In the opening “Longing And Loathing,” the opening poem, she gets right to it, letting you know where she is headed.


LONGING AND LOATHING
 
We were in my Garden of Eden
When he said the sweetest thing
Naked on my dayglo white
King-sized bed
At the edge of my tiny meadow
Where the grass had gone all to seed
In the shade of the knowledge trees.
Biblically dappled sunlight
Graced his loins, I mean,
Made his skin look awfully
Good
to me.
“This is not new,” is what he said,
“and I don’t think you should be
Zen about anything.”
 

Here is a poem that makes you wish you were there. Even if it does not, there is more to


SEMI-FORMAL IN THE GROVE
 
Semi-formal in the grove,
they spoke in strong verbs
and melodious parts of speech.
Depending on the day,
she was his rib,
he had her back
to back to back.
Simplistically, they took
their shape from oak leaves,
their favorite flavor was tomato –
that amorous, bulbous fruit,
there were no surprises even then.



A Massachusetts native and native English speaker, Rebibo received a President of Israel award among other awards for her book of Hebrew poetry written while living in Israel. She is equally at home in both languages providing insightful and intimate poetry that smokes with liveliness.


A three part poem, “Why The Man Was Driven Out” is a particularly revealing poem which should be read slowly and thoughtfully to absorb the full impact of what the author is telling us about herself, and romance/love.


The reader need decide what whether each poem is a happy or sad encounter, but whatever the finding, the final poem “Your Next Eden” speaks directly to the reader and tells you what Rebibo, Eden and her encounters are all about.


A highly recommended chapbook of personal and entertaining poetry that is totally

accessible to every reader.

_______________________________________________________

Reviewer for Boston Small Press and Poetry Scene

Publisher, Muddy River Books

Author, King of the Jungle (Ibbetson Street Press, 2010)

Author, Across Stones of Bad Dreams (Cervena Barva, 2011)

Editor, Bagel Bards Anthology 7

Editor, Bagel Bards Anthology 8

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