What Remains - (Jewish Poetry Project) by David Curzon (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

David Curzon is best known as the editor of two poetry anthologies on Biblical themes-Modern Poems on the Bible (JPS, 1994) and The Gospels in Our Image (Harcourt Brace, 1995).

His own poems have been widely published in literary journals and anthologies, testament to the quality and caliber of his work. Hopefully the publication of What Remains, a collection of 90 poems, will introduce a new and broader spectrum of readers to his unique voice and extraordinary range.

What Remains is his first book of poetry to be published in the United States; (a previous volume, Dovchik, was published in Australia and two previous books-The View from Jacob's Ladder and Midrashim-contain both poetry and prose).

Curzon's poems are windows into a life passionately lived. They are at once ironic and deeply-felt, erudite and amusing, and always reflective of a Renaissance-range of interests. Born in Melbourne, the son of a Holocaust survivor, David Curzon holds a B.Sc. in physics and a PhD in economics. His career included positions at NASA in Washington DC and as chief of the Central Evaluation Unit at the UN, assessing problems of peace-keeping operations and refugee and environment programs.

Many poems in this collection are autobiographical ("An Australian Childhood," "The Emigrant," "A Marriage"). Others are meditations on Eastern art and philosophy ("Instructions to a Mustard Seed," "The Tao of Water"). His poems reflect the deep resonances of art in the poet's inner world and his emotional responses to the living concerns of Biblical, Chinese and other ancient texts. Poems like "Uncertainty" and "A Cold Palm Reading" address the reader directly with his concerns.

Some of his most memorable poems are modern midrashim on Jewish and biblical themes ("Psalm 1"-his unforgettable Holocaust poem, and "To King David"-a paean to his namesake). All of his poems represent a spiritual imagination in the broadest sense of the term.

Curzon described the genesis of his midrashic poems in a previous book (The View from Jacob's Ladder): "Twenty-five years ago I was in an ashram on the banks of the Ganges; ten years later, in New York, after a great deal of meditation, I came to understand that, profound and attractive as Indian religions and philosophies were, I was in fact, not Hindu."

He was inspired by a poem by Israeli poet Dan Pagis, who used a midrashic technique in his poem on Proverbs 6:6-starting with a Biblical verse, inserting his own response to it, and following up with a variation on the second Biblical line. The midrashic method of interpretation opened up a new genre for Curzon. He writes: "The poem by Dan Pagis was the key; and through the door of my own resistance that it opened I came to the vast traditions I had been so wary of approaching. I was delighted to learn that these traditions had their own literary devices, and tried using these devices, and found they gave me the freedom to play with the text, to be outraged by the text, to be brought to tears by the text, to be surprised by the strength and nature of my responses, and to begin to discover, through these surprises, myself in my tradition."

The fruits of this revelation are evident in the midrashic poems in this collection.

Review Quotes

"David Curzon's striking poems in What Remains read like the carefully distilled observations of a wise and reflective mind. We come to see what he sees, illuminating the experiences of day-to-day life in words that seem as if they were engraved in stone, not mere ink on paper. A beautiful book."

-Barry W. Holtz, Theodore and Florence Baumritter Professor of Jewish Education, Jewish Theological Seminary

"Aphoristic, ekphrastic, and precise revelations animate What Remains. In his stunning rewriting of Psalm 1 and other biblical passages, Curzon shows himself to be a fabricator, a collector, and an heir to the literature, arts, and wisdom traditions of the planet. He makes you think, and think again, and feel the impact of his insights."

-Alicia Ostriker, author of The Volcano and After