God's Memory

The poems in God’s Memory are a powerful testament to loss and longing, to the beauty of the natural world, the fragility and resilience of human nature, and a profound underlying spirituality that sustains and blesses us. Gershon Ben-Avraham draws thoughtfully on his Jewish faith and also on everyday life, questioning at times the distinctions we draw between sacred and secular. Clear language is balanced with fine poetic craft; Ben-Avraham's imagery is as subtle as a scent on the breeze and as specific as a prayer shawl or the severed trunk of an elm. This is a chapbook to cherish.
—Sarah Law, Author of Thérèse: Poems, Poet, and Editor-in-Chief of Amethyst Review
The voice in Ben-Avraham's poems calls out to us from the synagogue and study hall—but also from secret fields of unrequited love and the long-shared marriage bedroom. Like the best poetry issuing from a life of faith, Ben-Avraham's work transcends the sanctimonious. These crafted poems have been baked in the kiln of a warm heart that forgets little. The speaker in this wonderful collection mourns losses large and small, theoretical and real, is compelled equally by birdsong outside the synagogue and the cantor’s sacred intonations, his wife “lying warm beneath blue blankets” and “a trudge through the snow to morning prayer.” Ben-Avraham reveals that our vulnerabilities are holy, too, and an unspoken unity underlies all that, at first glance, appears divided.
—Yehoshua November, Author of God’s Optimism and Two Worlds Exist
Reading God’s Memory is like sitting under the shade of a tree, “covered with its lace of light.” Ben-Avraham’s poetry is three-quarters mourn-song, and because of the prevalent dark, what shines stands out in stark relief. That brief light anchors us: transcendence in the form of birds, prayer, the laughter of strangers. A joyous dog. Willows and pines. The memory of a lover, inkept, cherished. “Water, woods, sun, and moon.” These are poems for a long winter afternoon, seeds that “Sleep silently beneath the frozen fields,” stirring our minds to spring.
—Dayna Patterson, Author of If Mother Braids A Waterfall and Editor-in-Chief of Psaltery & Lyre

Publisher:

Kelsay Books

Pages:

40

Date Published:

2021