Practice

by Dan Bellm

Poetry. Dan Bellm's third book of poems takes as its starting point the Jewish practice of studying weekly portions of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, in an annual cycle. Working in the midrashic tradition--imaginatively explaining or expanding a Biblical text, often well beyond its literal meaning--the poems offer meditations on faith, doubt, yearning, family ties, love and loss, and the age-old roots of modern-day war. In PRACTICE, we see a poet of extraordinary range and formal versatility, whose sonnets, villanelles, prose poems, and lyric inventions engage both the imagination and the heart. These poems are at once accessible and complex, deeply personal and profoundly universal.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2008

Reviews

[J.L. Huffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Christian, outside of the Jewish faith tradition, the book is a midrash. An interpretation of how a Jewish man tries to unravel the meaning of the Torah in light of daily events: being gay, dementia, war, life, and death. Enlightening.

[Ann G. Daniels · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Dan Bellm's poetry. This is his latest book and he is in fine form. I particularly love how he blends what would seem to be completely irreconcilable elements such as Jewish prayer and cowboy songs (you have to read it to believe it) in a beautiful, flowing whole.

[Jacob Staub · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bellm is one of my favorite poets. This collection is midrash in the most subtle and artful of ways.

[Mills College Library]

811.54 B445p 2008