Rebuilding a World

About the Book

The works collected here display the mastery and perspective of a mature poet, whose unique voice expresses a wide range of emotional states and ideas. These poems come from a difficult period in the author’s life, the years 2007-2008, when a series of serious health problems caused him to re-evaluate, not only himself, but the very meaning of his identity. They will resonate with anyone who has faced loss, wonder, change, and renewal.

It is not surprising then that images of loss, disorientation, tentative reaching out, violent change, and isolation permeate these poems. The poems have been grouped into chapters that highlight their common metaphors in a narrative structure that traces the emotional arc of the real-life struggle he faced as he wrote them.

The cycle begins with total destruction, reduction of order into chaos, and the transformation of what used to be an infinite variety of complex form and beauty into the raw materials for the beginning of a new world. Then come disappointment and disorientation, weathering the violent storms that leave one battered and scarred. The cycle ends with evocations of the Biblical Flood, which destroys and cleanses without the violence of the world’s volcanic origins, creating peace, and a chance to begin again.

About the Author

Jerome TR Rothenberg is a professor of economics, who has authored several influential books in the field. He has taught at several universities, including Northwestern University, Oxford University, London School of Economics, and MIT, where he is Professor Emeritus. Jerry and his wife, Betsy, live in Newton, Massachusetts. They have three children.