Hottentot Venus by Freddy Frankel Review
Hottentot Venus by Freddy Frankel, Reviewed by Doug Holder.
(Pudding House Publications 81 Shadymere Lane Columbus, Ohio 43213) $8.95
I first met Freddy Frankel at U/Mass Boston, where we were
participants in a poetry workshop sponsored by the William Joiner Institute. Frankel, a well-respected, retired physician in Boston, turned out to be a gifted poet as well. I made a point of asking Fred to contribute to the Ibbetson Street Press, and he will be one of my featured readers at the Newton Free Library Poetry Series in Sept. 2004. Since I met Fred he has gone on to win the New England Writers Robert Penn Warren Award, and his poetry has appeared in THE ICONOCLAST, THE LARCOM REVIEW, CONCHO RIVER REVIEW, and other magazines. In this chap, Hottentot Venus, Frankel writes stunning poetry about coming-of-age in South Africa. Many of the poems deal
with the vicious cycle of prejudice, and how both the purveyor as well as the object of prejudicial invective, are equally consumed.
In BLACK JEW/WHITE JEW ( which appeared in Ibbetson Street) the
poet's pious Jewish grandfather behaves in a less than pious
manner: "...a black man speaks softly, tells them/ he's a Jew, asks permission to pray. Grandpa firmly shakes his head, NO!... I try to/understand the nature of piety/ wind the leather/strap of my Tefillin down my arm/ tightly bind my torn belief." Ironically, prejudice lives among Jews, even with their history of being scapegoats over the centuries. Historically, the German Jew has looked down on the Eastern European Jew, as a lower subspecies. In LESSON OF THE DAY IN HEBREW SCHOOL the young poet picks up a habit of a lower caste Polish Jew. This brings a stinging rebuke from his mother: " when I get home I ask the cook/ for a cup of tea, ask her to bring sugar cubes, sit at the kitchen table with one/ between my teeth/ my mother who strains to be English protest with genteel vowels,/ Freddy, that's so coarse--/ just like a foreign Jew! Frankel's poetry is accessible, layered with meaning, and expertly crafted. In addition, Fred is what we call a "mensch" (Yiddish) or gentleman. He is an accomplished man, who is still humble, warm and not jaded, a rarity in a very jaded world.
Review by Doug Holder
Free Webpages at Webspawner.com
Send E-Mail to:
This page created using the webpage creation facilities of Webspawner.
Copyright © 2004 . All Rights Reserved