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Longing
Poems of a Life
by Merle Feld
Foreword by Rabbi Rachel Adler
112 Pages6.00 × 9.00 × 0.50 in
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Foreword: Rabbi Rachel Adler, PhD
Acknowledgments
Introduction
I. He is gone for many hours
In the corner
My brother and I each separately
Safe has disappeared
He is gone for many hours
Seder story
I keep his secrets
Roger is the middle child
I was the youngest, the only girl
II. Was he there, lying in wait?
Sol by the pickle barrel
Mickey in the hallway
Sixth-grade boys
Prospects
The story of how I started smoking
What makes you feel safe?
III. Ein Gedi
Shabbos together
Stretching infinitely
Red enamel chairs
Our demons
At the bottom of a colorless world
When you come to it, you will not care
Coming of age
IV. Lillian
The straw, day one
The watch, day two
The waiting room, day two
What he knew, day two
The dance card
The day the marriage ended
The very end of day two
Day three becomes day four
V. Temporarily, unexpectedly
When they’re gone, do people know that they’re remembered?
His many foreign lands
Aunt Julie’s final conversation
What courage looks like
You offer me full-throated laughter
The pain of your loss
VI. Not even on the way anywhere
The story of how we came to Western Mass
January 9, 2017
Icy listserv mornings
Working from home
What’s your emergency?
VII. Then laughed and laughed, ageless
Solstice
Jane is explaining
A bell rings
Under a stone
Respite after darkness
Returning
Stay with me a little longer please
The world we have longed for since the very beginning
Glossary
Index of Titles
About the Author
Merle Feld is an esteemed and beloved poet. She is the author of a memoir in poetry and prose—A Spiritual Life: Exploring the Heart and Jewish Tradition—and a poetry collection, Finding Words. Her poems appear in a variety of groundbreaking volumes, including Mishkan HaSeder, Mahzor Lev Shalem, Siddur Lev Shalem, and The Torah: A Women’s Commentary. Her award-winning plays The Gates are Closing and Across the Jordan have been presented nationally and internationally. Since 2000, she has been a pioneer in the field of spiritual writing, guiding rabbis, adult seekers, and clergy students across denominations to explore and deepen their spiritual lives (derekh.org). A recipient of honors for poetry, playwriting, and activism,
What is so compelling about Feld's writing is her ability to capture defining moments in her own life in ways that lead the reader to say, yes, I feel that way too. Her willingness to engage deeply with painful experiences of abuse and loss while also celebrating beauty and intimacy virtually ensures that readers will find many points of connection with this powerful book. –– Judith Plaskow, PhD, coauthor of Goddess and God in the World: Conversations in Embodied Theology
In Longing, Merle Feld opens her tender and strong heart, speaks from the depths of her being, and expresses in touching and heartrending poetry the sorrows and joys, trials and satisfactions that mark human life. This is a book that both disturbs and caresses the soul. ––Rabbi David Ellenson, PhD, Chancellor Emeritus, Hebrew Union College--Jewish Institute of Religion
Merle Feld's bracing poetry deepens and challenges the Jewish canon, while finding language for the moments we might have otherwise buried or missed. This book is bravely personal, deeply stirring, unblinking. You will revisit your own truths in these poems, finding power and courage in her beautiful words. ––Abigail Pogrebin, author of My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew
I know I will read this book many times. It is that kind of book--one that you grow with. Read one page and you'll see: the truths Merle Feld reveals in Longing unlock everything, and leave everyone wide open.––Rabbi Noa Kushner, Founding Rabbi, The Kitchen, San Francisco
When I teach poetry workshops, I always begin by telling participants to kill the censor and write what they are afraid to write. In Longing: Poems of a Life, Merle Feld has done so with such strength and clarity; I'm gripped by her story. I should say, "her stories," for there are many--and they reach out in so many directions. Anger, shame, sweetness, love--what it's like to live through and beyond them all, and all with compassion. ––Alicia Ostriker, New York State Poet Laureate Emerita
Feld's collection features poems of gripping immediacy, but they add up to a reflective, holistic view of a woman's life in which one sees beginnings shape a future and pain build compassion and strength. ... A fine collection that brings secret travails to life with passionate intensity. ––Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Longing is more of a life review, a work that reconstructs her past, especially her early childhood, in an extremely open and honest way. Whether it's through activism, poetry or mentoring, Feld remains motivated towards bringing about a better future. She's important to all readers who seek the sacred.––Aaron Howard, Jewish Herald-Voice
Featured on Kirkus Reviews’ Best Indie Books of 2023
Merle Feld shares her poem “Let my people go that they may serve You”
Video: CCAR Press Speaker Series
Watch the book trailer:
