Dancing With a Tiger: Poems 1941-1998

Like Robert Lax (1915-2001), Friend (1913-98) was an intentional American expatriate. Lax lived in rural Greece, Friend in Jerusalem from 1950 on. Lax was ascetic, a Catholic convert, and rather innocent (he once rented a pleasant, cheap room in, as acquaintances eventually apprised him, a bordello). Friend was a cosmopolitan, former Communist Jew, whose great achievement abroad was realizing his homosexuality. Lax's poetry resounds with the immanence of God and eternal significance. Friend's poems in this selection by fellow poet Edward Field are resolutely secular, personal, and quotidian (though when asked, he writes "A Prayer for Michael" movingly and convincingly, out of love rather than faith). The poems seem trivial, but Friend's common vocabulary, formal ease (with terza rima as well as free verse), and intimate tone make them--whether the immediate topic be a dead friend ("Three for Leah Goldberg"); lust ("Boy on a Bicycle"); or aging ("The Divorce")--the distinctive utterances of a person one is delighted and honored, even, to know. Ray Olson When ordering use the discount code for 20% off list price: VZCQVQ3A