Aleph, broken: Poems from My Diaspora

by Judith Kerman

Aleph, broken, a collection of poems by Judith Kerman, will appeal to readers, both Jewish and not, interested in the tension between American identity and the other resonances rooted in culture of origin. The book explores an unconventional but not atypical Jewish identity, one that is scientific and secular but yearning for connections usually found in Jewish observance, history and belief. These poems center around ways in which life and Jewishness are not what Kerman was taught to expect. They reflect both real and imagined personal experience, related to Judaism but also to larger contemporary issues and Kerman’s explorations of other cultures as they connect to personal identity.

Diane Wakoski writes: Judith Kerman’s new collection is a gathering of restrained and thoughtful mediations on her life, focusing on her secular Jewishness and the implicit impact history has had on the way she experiences the world. Kerman observes everything with careful eyes, unsentimental about her own failings. She is doing some meaningful witnessing— testifying to the simple power of living in the non-dramatic and resisting the temptation to (over) dramatize it. She writes with substance, a wholesome acceptance of an imperfect world, oneself included. Her poems are an admirable reality-check for all of us.
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84 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2016

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't a fan of this book. I wanted to try something new that I wouldn't normally pick out. It wasn't bad, just not for me.

I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The quality and artistry of the poems in this collections increase as you go, so this rating is an average of the poorer poems towards the front, decent ones in the middle, and great ones towards the end.

[D.A. Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very strong writing - connects the deeply personal experience to a much larger human experience of crisis and does so without preaching too much to the reader or disappearing into a world of private references. What good witness poetry should be.