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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