My Beautiful Ballooning Heart
Poems by
Janice Silverman Rebibo
Coolidge Corner Publishing
Brookline MA
Copyright © 2013 by
Janice Silverman Rebibo
142 pages, softbound,
$17.95
Review by Zvi A. Sesling
One of my favorite
poets is Charles Simic and I have never read anyone quite like him
until I opened Janice Silverman Rebibo’s My
Beautiful Ballooning Heart. Whereas with
Simic one does not always know if a specific poem is about him,
someone else or fiction, with Rebibo’s work it is quite clear the
poems are. And for added praise, let me add James Tate and Wyslawa
Szymborska as references to her poetry. Many of the poems in the
first section are about loves and lovers. The choice of names are
interesting. First there is Rob, is this his real name of did he
steal something of hers – years, valuables, what? The second is
John. Saint or sex partner? There are also a Barry, Artis and Martin
and a few others tossed in. The poems provide answers, though they
may not have the same meaning for you they have for her. That is the
wonderful mystery of her poetry.
On several pages there
are “Four Poems for Old Lovers” starting with 1)
Oh My Goodness There’s an Old Lover:
Oh my goodness! There’s an
old lover
sitting under the trees
on those folding chairs
I hate
at the Silky Way Café.
You know, the wooden ones
with slats
that might collapse or at
least tip over
ungracefully on the gravel
around the round tables
that aren’t too stable.
Will I say hello?
Sit down and have “a
coffee”
in the local lingo. It’s
been a while.
Smile. The shadows under
these trees
were always gentle.
Temperamental
was the word I jotted down
before
and Tenderly, by chance. His
eyes.
Throughout her poetry
Rebibo reveals an intriguing sense of humor about her various
encounters. Check out 3) Lunch with the
Last One, where even capital letters in
the title reveal something:
When you stroked my arm
on the second floor of that
big restaurant
it made me so angry.
We have a history
of good sex
of which I would rather not
be reminded.
I am busy making a doormat of
myself
right now
with another lover, also
flawed, but not bad either.
You’ll have to let me alone
to let this run its course
and by the time I’ve
ruined
this one too
by turning into mush
like that bagel-toast we
split – too much cheese
we’ll all be old
and even Viagra won’t help.
This poem along with
the others tells us all we will ever want to know about the poet, her
past, things she experiences, reads and partakes of. Past and
present meet on the pages in ways few other poets have been able to
express. But do not mistake these for magical poems, they are not.
These poems are about the real – good, bad, obsessive, and despite
the author’s claim to have forgotten, these prove nothing has been
forgotten.
There are moments in which
the reader gets a quick lesson in life:
How to Ask for What You
Want
How about a bowl of soup
Could it be that simple, this
sacramental moment
rings
an offering
rain of fire
not by accident
fundamental
Ask
And you may receive
There is also the poem
I wish had ended the book called After This
Mysterious Moment with You
Even after this mysterious
Effusive
Everlasting moment
here with you
when I
Cast off this or that
convention
Exalt sporadic gestures of my
brain
I remain the daughter of my
parents
friend of my lovers
friend of my friends
You will see the final poem,
nonetheless is also an appropriate finish, and when you finish this
book you will feel awe for the person who wrote it because she has
laid her beautiful ballooning heart before you.
_______________________________________________________
Zvi A. Sesling
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
No comments:
Post a Comment