Poems & prose

---

The Gods are too Loud, Stone Poetry Quarterly

85 Syllables for Spring, Oddball Magazine

Into the Can, MacQueen’s Quinterly: 

In London during the War, The Rye Whiskey Review

NOT A HERO

KITES WITHOUT STRING

JOE’S CAFÉ

Madeline Artenberg’s

“Naming A Hurricane”

Madeline Artenberg is first and foremost a consummate storyteller.  In her new volume of poetry, “Naming a Hurricane”, she brings us rich and compelling stories drawn from her life in the diaspora of immigrant New York City. Her work takes all of us on her journey of becoming, from doting granddaughter to the formidable artist she is today.  Her brilliant choice to structure this collection within the narrative device of severe weather gives these poems a momentum and power that drives this temporal travelogue into a dazzling chronicle of a life lived fiercely. This poet is exquisitely sensitive while simultaneously tough as nails.  She creates searing emotional experiences for the reader, but then brings us home safely by the final stanza…..Within the joy or pain of each experience described we always learn something new. These poems are a window into our own souls manifested by the poet’s lyrical command of language and her gift for finding the rhythm and center of each experience.  

Much like the Gotham that created her, Madeline’s poems charge ahead without apology.  She writes about incredibly difficult topics with an emotional honesty that makes these subjects universally accessible. This poet gives us a kaleidoscopic emotional experience as she briskly walks us through compelling depictions of child abuse, sexual harassment, love, death and even lust.  This is an artist who misses nothing.  She magically utilizes small details to reach her readers across the chasm of individual difference.  We may not share her experience and perspectives, but her poetry compels us to to understand and to be changed by her world.  Madeline comes to poetry from the world of photojournalism. In that world it is essential to document and record subjects with an objective clarity combined with an alchemy of subjective POV that make the subject compelling and personal. Madeline has successfully leveraged these artistic and journalistic gifts into her poetry. The reader comes away from this collection with appreciation for the power of this hurricane.

I’m Talking Tina....and I’m going to kill you...  

I recently got DVR service with my cable and it has so far been used primarily to record Conan O'Brien and to get old Twilight Zone episodes.  The original Twilight Zone was a great show.  The writing and acting were usually good and the subject matter tended to get at the center of human concerns.  The one episode called "Living Doll" from which I quote in the above subject line was about family dynamics and the powerlessness of children.  The evil step father gets his just desserts by being pushed down the steps by an animate doll.  In the 1960's the liberals thought that kids and their developmental needs for love and guidance were too often being lost in the sterile military industrial complex.  The 60's were a celebration of the individual.  Society was the evil step parent.  Evil step parents are an old dramatic device from the days of fairy tales.  This episode got me to thinking about kids and parents and how we can and should control kids and what this means toward the type of adults they will become.

Children can be nasty little creatures.  Quite appropriately, they are selfish and self centered.  I'm not sure how it happened.  But all kids are "gifted" now.  Parents put huge energy into promoting their little geniuses.  

Kids don't have tantrums anymore....they engage in self expression.  

A parent can be jailed for disciplining his own child in the Kmart.  Parenting no longer seems to be about establishing limits and socializing these little ego monsters.  Now it is all about validation and developing self worth.

This has been getting progressively worse over the last 20 years.  The new management trainees where I work seem terribly surprised that we don't know that they are geniuses.  If one of them turns something in that is incomprehensible, it must be the case that we just don't get it.  It CAN'T be because it is poorly written and disorganized.  When I point out SPECIFICS that can be improved to get something into presentable shape, I get THAT look.  I am the evil step father who does not understand or appreciate the EFFORT that went into getting the work done.  I pointed out to a young man the other day that TRYING was nice but that SUCCEEDING was really the point.  I will be looking over my shoulder in the parking lot for awhile.  The look in his eye told me that a little dent in the Lexus daddy bought him would be worth it if my blood and hair were imbedded in his fender crease.

So...what do we do.  I think every generation (yeah...I'm a boomer) worries about passing the world onto the new team.  Maybe it is just a generational thing.  Maybe these kids will start getting it.  Sure...a few of them will get the perfect job that they love.  They will be constantly rewarded for minimum effort and they will be applauded for throwing those self expressive tantrums.  But, I hope that many of them get kicked in the teeth repeatedly and then get back up...keep trying...and actually have an impact on some of the dirty, nasty and difficult tasks that are coming down the pike.

We are not evil step parents...just their predecessors.  No, we do not love them.  Their parents love them and have interpreted that love to mean they should be shielded from the truth.  We want these young ones to grow up and become our peers.  That takes hard work and a critical eye. 

Don't push me down the steps Tina.....I'm your best bet for getting from where you are to where we all need you to be...