The Floating Door
by Matthew Silverman
Paperback, first, 92 pages
Published February 18th, 2018 by Glass Lyre Press
ISBN 1941783465
This is a moving collection of poems that captures several different series into one bound volume. He writes about old wives' tales, the American suburbs, and a series about the last living Jew in Afghanistan. These poems are narrative and full of magical realism.
M.E. Silverman’s The Floating Door moves from the peculiar and vivid details of growing up Jewish in America to a series of musings about the last Jew in Kabul, over whom “the sun snaps shut/ like a casket.” Noah and Abraham and Isaac vie for attention in a child’s mind with schoolyard rhymes like step on a crack, break your mother’s back. A menorah takes center stage, then a Captain America glass. Throughout, there’s a daring coupling of whimsy and pathos. Shoes from the piles in the Holocaust Museum, “rise leisurely, puppets on strings” to “sweep through the air like Astaire and Rogers.”
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I found this collection of poetry and narrative paragraphs quite interesting. It covers a broad range of topics but the main one is Judaism. Don’t fret if the Jewish terms in the book elude you because there is a glossary in the back of the book. A few of the poems such as “Spaces” and “Imaginary Prop List For An Abandoned Temple” have a different yet intriguing format. Silverman’s writing has a nice flow with plenty of delightful descriptions that makes the poems come alive. Also, synonyms and idioms used are marvelous. I think the front runner in that department comes from “Finding My Father’s Kinnor”; “...they break open my father’s lungs like a pistachio…” is impressive. Finally, I am going to finish this review with one of the poems that I could really relate to.
Friday At Publix In Atlanta
At checkout, a tall man in an overcoat
stands with two kids,
one in each tight hand.
The store is crowded.
Everyone has dinner to make,
company to keep.
My cart looks deep
and hollow, one frozen meal,
a bottle of soda, and a bar
of chocolate. The woman,
getting checked out by an old grocer,
is half my age, buttoned
in a yellow parka
like a ripe banana.
I almost laugh-
except her cart is flowing
with cans and meals and sweets.
She must have a lover
and two or three kids,
a minivan, Washed and bright
as stars. She singing showtunes
on the way to her two-story home,
hopes she has time for her yoga class,
hopes all is safe and right.
Out of the corner of my eye,
I see a kid wiggle free
to touch an Impulse item
while the dad seizes the moment
to check stocks or Sports
on his new phone.
I pretend not to hear
when the grocer pauses
to let me know the self-checkout
is free. I think no rush.
she points a puffy finger
my way. I avoid eye contact
until she resumes
the blips and beeps
a steady sound
of something achieved.
Matthew Silverman
Born in New Rochelle, NY, The United States
WEBSITE:
Other books include:
Best Mets
100 Things Mets Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die
New York Mets: The Complete Illustrated History
Mets Essential
Baseball Miscellany
--Co-Author of
Mets by the Numbers
Red Sox by the Numbers
Cubs by the Numbers
--Former associate publisher at Total Sports Publishing
--Managing editor of Total Baseball, Total Football and ESPN Baseball and Pro Football Encyclopedias
