What comes alive in Waiting for the Light is the deep spirit within the poet and the world around her as it influences and inspires her. The eyes with which Alicia Ostriker sees the world are realistic, yet full of empathy, appreciation, and sometimes a haunting sorrow, and because of all that, those eyes are highly perceptive and privileged.

This collection is divided into four parts, and city scenes--mostly of New York City and a couple for Guyana and Bangladesh, and diversity of cultures and socio-political issues abound in all of the parts. The fourth part, I found to be more philosophical and universal than the others. There are also the questioning poems where excellent questions are asked and sometimes answered with another question. The last line of the last poem has a trick question that will stick to my mind forever. “Did the Stone Age end because of a lack of stones?” So will the first line in Red Red Rose “When you take off your mask, what is your true address?”

Many poems stand out for me. Among them, in How Unfortunate the Boy, the poet’s compassion shines for all the people involved in a taxi accident. Then, while the poet is sitting in a park, there is the untethered expression of joy because the Mariachis are singing in Cinco de Mayo. The feminist side of the poet is strong, too. In Afghanistan: The Raped Girl, she relates with rage the incident of how women are unjustly treated because family honor is above everything. Then in reference to her mother, she says, “she for whom honor // was not a concept, she from whom I learned // liberty and fury, our weapons in this world.”

everything

Alicia Suskin Ostriker is a major American poet, critic, professor, and MFA teacher. She has several poetry collections to her name as well as various awards.

the poetry is realistic and it sings of cities, especially New York City, with passion and feeling. I loved it.

Waiting for the Light is the winner of 2017 National Jewish Book Award in the poetry category.

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Created May 05, 2018 at 10:44pm • Submit your own review...