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Golems
Poetry collection united by the theme of Golems: figures from Hebrew lore conjured to complete a given task: humor and pathos combined.
- GenresPoetry
72 pages, Paperback
Published June 18, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 6, 2021
In Golems, Tina Hacker delivers a collection of poems all featuring a golem, a being from Jewish folklore, made of earth, and summoned into existence by someone seeking help or protection. Each poem's golem has a task to complete before returning to the earth from which it's made. These tasks range from supporting Black Lives Matter protesters, to helping a long-married couple communicate with each other around their mutual hearing and memory loss. The golem poems centered on Jewish history and traditions are evocative and powerful. And the poems that place an old-as-dirt golem into some newfangled twenty-first-century situation create a dissonance that's frequently hilarious. My favorites from the book include "Words While Married," "The Motorist," "Deep Fried Golem," and "Dishing on Liz," in which a golem goes to heaven to find out the true color of Liz Taylor's eyes.
This was so much fun to read, and it's a fast read--probably because the poems are so accessible and so narrative in nature. The story each poem tells pulls you right in and through to the next one. The unifying concept of the collection is so strong, and I love that in a poetry book. It's like listening to a great cohesive album in which each song stands on its own, but whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
This was so much fun to read, and it's a fast read--probably because the poems are so accessible and so narrative in nature. The story each poem tells pulls you right in and through to the next one. The unifying concept of the collection is so strong, and I love that in a poetry book. It's like listening to a great cohesive album in which each song stands on its own, but whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
June 22, 2021
Delightful reading! Something for everyone! I’m living proof that you don’t need to be Jewish or even to know what a golem is to thoroughly enjoy this collection. The intro, “What Is a Golem?,” will tell you all you need to know. Short answer: a golem is a figure in Jewish folklore who is summoned out of the earth, from the mud and clay, to accomplish a specific task. When the job is complete, the golem is, too, and sinks back into the ground. Hacker thought she’d write a short series of poems like this, since readers immediately loved them, but soon golems began to populate so many poems that she concludes, “I’m convinced a golem summoned me.”
You may wonder, “Do I want to read this much about golems?” You do. It’s like trying to stop after eating two or three potato chips, except these golems are not much alike. Hacker’s golems are the vehicle. Golem + task to be done = wild adventure. The book isn’t really about golems, but about humans, how we get through the worst of times like the Holocaust, but also about our foibles, vanities, hopes, curiosity, and our capacity for love. These golems render poetic justice.
Often Hacker takes us back in time, like the golem assisting Shakespeare, but many poems are up to date: how a golem protects a new voter at the polls in 2020 while another befriends a lonely woman during Covid isolation. A few golems take time to indulge themselves: luxuriating on a cruise ship, choosing a tattoo, inventing new deep-fried recipes, creating a Facebook page.
You may share a tear, but you will definitely laugh. Yes, you know how many of the best comedians and comedy writers are Jewish. You will also be touched. Soon you’ll probably start thinking of reasons YOU should conjure a golem, even if it’s to inspire Hacker to write more golem poems.
You may wonder, “Do I want to read this much about golems?” You do. It’s like trying to stop after eating two or three potato chips, except these golems are not much alike. Hacker’s golems are the vehicle. Golem + task to be done = wild adventure. The book isn’t really about golems, but about humans, how we get through the worst of times like the Holocaust, but also about our foibles, vanities, hopes, curiosity, and our capacity for love. These golems render poetic justice.
Often Hacker takes us back in time, like the golem assisting Shakespeare, but many poems are up to date: how a golem protects a new voter at the polls in 2020 while another befriends a lonely woman during Covid isolation. A few golems take time to indulge themselves: luxuriating on a cruise ship, choosing a tattoo, inventing new deep-fried recipes, creating a Facebook page.
You may share a tear, but you will definitely laugh. Yes, you know how many of the best comedians and comedy writers are Jewish. You will also be touched. Soon you’ll probably start thinking of reasons YOU should conjure a golem, even if it’s to inspire Hacker to write more golem poems.
August 2, 2021
Golems
by Tina Hacker -- 2021 ISBN: 978-1-954353-63-3
According to Jewish folklore, Golem comes to earth on a summons to fulfill a task. Although he is made of mud and clay, he can morph into other forms—woman, man, animal, whatever he needs to be to achieve his task. Although his role is mostly heroic, he can be an impish trickster as well as a messy visitor. He often leaves lots of mud behind. Tina Hacker, in her new book, Golems, has imagined Golem into many situations, each a separate poem, in this delightful book.
Although each poem puts Golem into a different situation from Walmart greeter to a Black Lives Matter protestor (who those in the crowd see him as their own race or ethnicity), Golem makes an impression no matter where he or she ends up. He gets tattooed, learns how to drive, discovers he loves chocolate, and as a woman dresses in pink for a wedding to catch the bouquet and in diamonds, silk, and Chanel for a cruise. He helps Shakespeare write Hamlet, Macbeth, and Merchant of Venice. Even Liz Taylor and General Custer make an appearance.
Although these poems are fun to read and imaginative, there is much more here than that. Hacker is capturing history and American culture with an insightful eye. She provides Jewish history and the horrors of the holocaust. She hits on voter suppression, Black Lives Matter marches, taking a knee at the ball field, and shows how multiple leaders wanted credit for tearing down the Berlin wall.
I don’t want to give away all of the surprises that come with this fine collection of Golem poems. Golem says, “I exist and the world should know it,” and Tina gives him to us through all of his many adventures. Readers must buy a copy and read it for themselves. You won’t be disappointed.
Maryfrances Wagner
The Immigrants’ New Camera
Missouri Poet Laureate 2021-23
by Tina Hacker -- 2021 ISBN: 978-1-954353-63-3
According to Jewish folklore, Golem comes to earth on a summons to fulfill a task. Although he is made of mud and clay, he can morph into other forms—woman, man, animal, whatever he needs to be to achieve his task. Although his role is mostly heroic, he can be an impish trickster as well as a messy visitor. He often leaves lots of mud behind. Tina Hacker, in her new book, Golems, has imagined Golem into many situations, each a separate poem, in this delightful book.
Although each poem puts Golem into a different situation from Walmart greeter to a Black Lives Matter protestor (who those in the crowd see him as their own race or ethnicity), Golem makes an impression no matter where he or she ends up. He gets tattooed, learns how to drive, discovers he loves chocolate, and as a woman dresses in pink for a wedding to catch the bouquet and in diamonds, silk, and Chanel for a cruise. He helps Shakespeare write Hamlet, Macbeth, and Merchant of Venice. Even Liz Taylor and General Custer make an appearance.
Although these poems are fun to read and imaginative, there is much more here than that. Hacker is capturing history and American culture with an insightful eye. She provides Jewish history and the horrors of the holocaust. She hits on voter suppression, Black Lives Matter marches, taking a knee at the ball field, and shows how multiple leaders wanted credit for tearing down the Berlin wall.
I don’t want to give away all of the surprises that come with this fine collection of Golem poems. Golem says, “I exist and the world should know it,” and Tina gives him to us through all of his many adventures. Readers must buy a copy and read it for themselves. You won’t be disappointed.
Maryfrances Wagner
The Immigrants’ New Camera
Missouri Poet Laureate 2021-23
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews