Atonement

<strong>Atonement</strong> is Judith Harriss poetic family album a scrapbook filled withremembrances of a suburban Jewish upbringing and reflections on motherho... » 

Atonement is Judith Harriss poetic family album a scrapbook filled withremembrances of a suburban Jewish upbringing and reflections on motherhood andfamily life. In its pages are pieces about family members violin drawing andhorseback riding lessons fishing a childs tea party a babysitter who does astriptease. There are darker verses about her mothers breakdown and herfathers cancer diagnosis and several works about nature. In poems such asIndian Summer at the Estate Sale After Harsh Words with My Daughter andParting My Daughters Hair Harris makes her simple subjects significant hereveryday events brim with meaning.The collection opens with Matrushka Dolls a lyrical poem that introducesseveral of Harriss main themes. She compares the painted Russian nesting dollsto her mothers womb her own womb her daughters womb And inside was theseed that would Begin the child like a sprout growing A girl within afinished girl. To Harris mothers like children are born and are constantlygrowing. The themes of love and death intertwine in her mind and her lovepoems most poignantly the one to her parents express tenderness withoutsentimentality. There is a direct spiritual component to Harriss work that isderived from Jewish identity but is personalized and idiosyncratic.Atonement is a work of delicate intensity and understated power. Harrisscompact narrative verses will delight the uninitiated reader as well asseasoned lovers of poetry. «