The Daily Glance
Jehanne Dubrow's The Hardship Post deals with many difficult questions, such as how does one talk about an event as massive as the Holocaust, especially when one is trying to negotiate one's identity in the memory space that surrounds it. Dubrow asks questions of history and of herself, and the answers that she finds are not always conforting. Her langauge, however, is consistently beautiful in this work, even when she is dealing with events that are not. She captures that contrast well in "Voyeurs," a poem which presents the wonderful lunch she has while her mother tells her about the Hutus and Tutsis, a poem which shows one looking but not really looking to act.
My favorite piece is "Rosh Hashanah," for in it she tracing her voice back to its root.
Jehanne Dubrow's The Hardship Post deals with many difficult questions, such as how does one talk about an event as massive as the Holocaust, especially when one is trying to negotiate one's identity in the memory space that surrounds it. Dubrow asks questions of history and of herself, and the answers that she finds are not always conforting. Her langauge, however, is consistently beautiful in this work, even when she is dealing with events that are not. She captures that contrast well in "Voyeurs," a poem which presents the wonderful lunch she has while her mother tells her about the Hutus and Tutsis, a poem which shows one looking but not really looking to act.
My favorite piece is "Rosh Hashanah," for in it she tracing her voice back to its root.
By following my voice back to its source,She claims that behind her voice is the blowing of the shofar, and that seems to be true, especially in this collection. It is something she has found, claimed, and used as inspiration.
I found the shofar's open mouth, a call
to men inside the belly of a fish.
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