{"product_id":"a-history-of-the-sweetness-michael-lieberman-9781881515074","title":"A History of the Sweetness of the World: Poems","description":"\u003ci\u003eA History of the Sweetness of the World\u003c\/i\u003e compels us to consider the world we live in. Michael Lieberman is a physician-poet who, from the vantage of middle age, has given us a book that celebrates and savors even as it documents loss and judges. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe pace of American life in the nineties has left us frayed. We live in a divided and divisive world with little time to heal it or ourselves. This book challenges us to heal by locating the sweet and the bitter-sweet even as we recognize the bitter. The poet \"would get down on his hands and knees and thank God for color vision,\" even as he despairs of having \"brailleless beggars in the streets.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis is a book about sweetness in which poems have titles like \"Loss\" and \"Regret\" as well as \"Lucky.\" The book also contains poems that are mysterious, that cannot be grasped in a simple way: \"Extraction\" and \"Eleven Views of the Bayou at Chimney Rock\" with its quiet homage to Paul Celan can only be experienced. Like the world itself there is no rational, logical summary of these poems. The poems in this collection are written about our world--our only world--and the only way we can heal it or ourselves is to be fully present. To experience it completely, we must step back from it. We are fortunate to have these poems to help us. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhy Should I Clone the Genes of Simon Srebnik?\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhat would I understand if I knew \u003cbr\u003ethe sequence of his DNA, could place \u003cbr\u003ehim in perspective with Cro-Magnon, \u003cbr\u003epatriarchs, his ancestors, my ancestors? \u003cbr\u003eIf I knew his story in detail? \u003cbr\u003eNine hours of \"Shoah\" is a man singing, a Jew, \u003cbr\u003ein soft focus in a small boat on a small river \u003cbr\u003ein the morning. He is drifting by mounds \u003cbr\u003eof coarse hair and shoes in my living room. \u003cbr\u003eA Jew in a boat. A Jew in a boat \u003cbr\u003esinging in Polish is beyond oscilloscopes. \u003cbr\u003eI am humming a song I cannot hear, \u003cbr\u003ea melody I do not know, accompanying \u003cbr\u003ea man remembering a youth he does not remember. \u003cbr\u003eHe is impounded o a reel of tape, \u003cbr\u003etrying to moor a past in the present. \u003cbr\u003eWith a warble older than the song, he frames \u003cbr\u003ea sweetness measured only in angstroms.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Michael Lieberman\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1881515079\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781881515074\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Texas Review Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/23\/1995\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 70\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.40lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.05h x 5.99w x 0.34d","brand":"Michael Lieberman","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44410777731327,"sku":"9781881515074","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_093d9cd6-e99d-4293-b041-faf16b8d1775.jpg?v=1697537695","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/a-history-of-the-sweetness-michael-lieberman-9781881515074","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}