The Neighbor Out of Sound [Paperback]

To life“Reading it anew, I think of Jake Marmer’s The Neighbor Out of Sound as a further & major instance of the interpenetration of old & new in the composition of works that explore the furthest limits & possibilities of poetry. The thrill, for me as it will be for others, is how he pulls together a profound feel for unabashedly Jewish images & soundings with avant-garde & jazz particulars to round out a mix of dynamic pasts & presents.  The result is very much a poetry for now & a voice well worth the listening.”“Jake Marmer’s poetry, born and reborn with three mother tongues in the post-Soviet Garden of Eden, is more angel than serpent. He writes wisdom poetry with multiple eyes and ears, wisdom chants, some wordless ghost wisdom, scat jazz wisdom (Louis Armstrong learned scat from Jewish neighbors). He is moving when he describes his ignorance and ours. He loves his neighbor as himself, even those out of sound. His love poems are wise. Marmer produces visions on the page. Whose woods are these? Who is God? Read and learn.”