Memory Foam

by Adam Soldofsky

"These poems are a mood, a way of seeing, an abandoned house full of creaks and signs of life. They are both archive and confession, naked and shameless in their truth. I’m enamored with Soldofsky’s voice-- it’s meditative and prying, both anxious and accepting. This book is a memory of the present, instantaneous nostalgia. “Behold,” the beginning of the book instructs, both to the reader and the self, and that is the work of these poems: to be aware. Of discontent, of anticipation, of regret, of the distance between human beings, of limitations. I clench my chest at these poems (“Do you feel cobbled together?”). I scream Ain’t that the truth?! (“Every person, of course, is inconceivable”) I want to wrap myself in their perception-- not laughing exactly, not weeping, just acknowledging, bearing witness, knowing."

- Morgan Parker, author of OTHER PEOPLE'S COMFORT KEEPS ME UP AT NIGHT

"The voice in MEMORY FOAM is amazingly confident, and swings easily between the personal and the vast. Soldofsky has channeled all the power and grace of Chuang Tzu and Li Po into a distinctly urban modernity. If, like me, you live half your life inside books, you will feel right at home in these poems. I do."

- Matthew Rohrer, author of SURROUNDED BY FRIENDS

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published July 1, 2016

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrara recommends this book in a Washington Post magazine article, so, I went some trouble to find it. I ended up having to pre-order it from a small publisher, as it wasn't available anywhere else. In the meantime, I obtained a volume of poetry by Adam's father, Alan Soldofsky, via interlibrary loan, which I enjoyed. Then, "Memory Foam" arrived in the mail. It is deep, and will take many readings to access it's depths. I concur with Juan Felipe Herrara's assessment, "such a quiet, personal, deep, unflinching, peaceful voice."