The Welcome

by David Joel Friedman

Fables for the modern age

Genres: Poetry

63 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2005

Reviews

[Alia Shaukat · Rating 3 out of 5]

i was set out to not like this book, thinking it was so different from what i usually like, but i was converted by friedman’s strangeness & vulnerability.

‘the past’ ‘the welcome’ and ‘love poem’ made me tear up with their blinding, gut-wrenching openness and almost innocence. the genuine.

‘the typewriter’ (stop by for a drink at my space bar!!!!) or ‘a reincarnation’ (the green bear died, and came back to life as a green bear) made me giggle & appreciate oddity and newness in poetry.

overall, the collection was made so much more special by hearing my professor’s stories about friedman, who was one of his close friends. he seemed like a wonderful person and writer, and discussing him and his work felt like a needed celebration of life.

[Michael Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Linguistically playful and witty, this collection of prose poems inspires thought and laughter. A seemingly silly reoccurring figure, the green bear, provokes consideration of serious issues and holds the collection together and gives it the feeling of surreal episodic fairytales. Questions of time and identity, history and natural affinity bead and roll through the collection like drops of rain that glisten over a windshield.