{"id":1199,"date":"2014-04-11T00:07:35","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T07:07:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=1199"},"modified":"2014-04-16T14:06:38","modified_gmt":"2014-04-16T21:06:38","slug":"carol-roses-from-the-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2014\/04\/11\/carol-roses-from-the-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"Carol Rose’s From the Dream"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reading From the Dream<\/i>, Carol Rose\u2019s most recent collection of poetry, led me to my bookshelf, where her first collection, Behind the Blue Gate<\/i>, was safely stored. This shelf is home to books that have particularly impressed me, and which I may want to read again, as well as those that have been written by friends. Rose\u2019s falls into both groups, and From the Dream<\/i> will soon be joining its older sister.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>
Carol Rose’s newest collection of poetry was published by Albion-Andalus Inc. in 2013.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In looking back at Behind the Blue Gate<\/i> (Beach Holme Publishing, 1997), I not only enjoyed it on its own merit, but enjoyed comparing its themes and style with From the Dream<\/i> (Albion-Andalus Inc., 2013). While both collections were obviously written by the same intelligent and caring person, the effects of time and experience were evident, and there is a difference in tone: the latter seems more accepting of the way of the world. My first thought was that, perhaps having grandchildren \u2013 which Rose now does aplenty \u2013 required a person to be more optimistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not sure if it is about being a grandparent, or about living longer and suffering the losses and demise that come with age while, at the same time, learning to treasure what we have at this very moment (including partners, children, grandchildren and friends). From the Dream seems to investigate these ideas, even the humorous poems,\u201d said Rose in an email interview, giving as an example the poem \u201csingin like he used to,\u201d about attending a Bob Dylan concert as an older person, which \u201chas us reluctantly \u2018aging before our very eyes,\u2019 while still being able to laugh at the life we are blessed to continue living.\u201d<\/p>\n

She agreed that the poems in From the Dream<\/i> are less confrontational or cynical than those in Behind the Blue Gate<\/i>. \u201cParticularly,\u201d she noted, \u201cwhen it comes to poems about women in the Bible or women in Judaism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rose was quite involved in the Jewish feminist movement (from the early 1970s) and, she said, \u201cI think that my writing was driven by a desire to create a new myth or a new narrative, or perhaps a more inclusive midrash.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust as there were women who were lobbying for political change, or women who were trying to create new rituals \u2013 and I was part of that effort, as well \u2013 there were also many women who were trying to create woman-centred interpretations of biblical teachings. We realized that women had only heard about biblical matriarchs (or even about Lilith) through the teachings of their rabbis or preachers. I wondered (along with many others, in various faith communities) what would happen if women began telling these same stories \u2013 but from their own point of view. To that end, I wrote some midrashic poems, including some that can be found in \u2018The Crones\u2019 section of Behind the Blue Gate<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn those years, I was not only reading and studying the material, I was teaching and running workshops on women and spirituality, so it was very \u2018alive\u2019 in my thinking. I am not teaching that material as much, now, and there are certainly wonderful contemporary midrashic materials (by and about women) that have appeared in the last 15-20 years, so I no longer feel that same urgency.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I feel most drawn to, these days,\u201d she said, \u201care women\u2019s rituals, women\u2019s dreams, women\u2019s experience of the Holy, the angelic, and women\u2019s encounters with Mystery \u2013 in nature, and in the lives of their family and friends. From the Dream<\/i>, especially the section called \u2018Shivering in the Silence,\u2019 explores some of these ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the Dream<\/i> includes work from the mid-1990s through to recent years. When asked about the process for deciding what was to be included, Rose said, \u201cAs you know, it can take many years for a collection of poems to become a book. In the selection, many individual poems are left behind. As the new work began to emerge, I noticed that several of the earlier poems were still very much alive. From the Dream<\/i> plucked them up and wove them into its theme of memory and loss. My friend, poet Di Brandt, once said that we are \u2018always writing the same poem.\u2019 I don\u2019t know that I agree with her entirely, but I do believe that we strive to write ourselves out of pain and uncertainty, and that some of the earlier poems seemed to help me understand what it was that I was still wrestling with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea of \u201cwrestling\u201d in this context brings to mind Jacob\u2019s struggle with God, and many of the poems in both From the Dream<\/i> and Behind the Blue Gate<\/i> are inspired by Jewish texts and beliefs, in which Rose is steeped. But her work is by no means parochial, and reflects a broad understanding of and empathy for humanity, beyond the religious, geographic, relational and other boundaries by which we separate ourselves from each other.<\/p>\n

Born in New York City, Rose has lived in various places, and currently divides her time between Winnipeg, St. Louis and Jerusalem. Among her academic credentials are a bachelor\u2019s in religious studies from the University of Manitoba and a master\u2019s in theology from the University of Winnipeg, as well as graduate work in cross-cultural and international education. For several years, she has taught imagery and, according to her bio, \u201cshe also uses imagery work in a private counseling practice she shares with her husband, Dr. Neal Rose,\u201d who also happens to be a rabbi.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of spirituality,\u201d she told the Independent<\/i>, \u201cI suppose I would say that my frame is Jewish mysticism, that I believe that the world was created out of the word (or words); that we are part of ongoing revelation, believing that we can receive or grasp truth (sometimes with the help of a presence, a friend, an angel or a loved one); that we are loved and capable of loving; that the dead live on, that their presence (in our memory or awareness) urges us to live justly; that the created world is a gift, that we take only what we need and that we respect the cycles of time, celebrate the Sabbath, eat permitted food with awareness, offer thanksgiving, extend our hands and hearts to others. I think both books convey these sentiments.\u201d<\/p>\n

She explained imagery work as \u201csimilar to what we have come to know as \u2018visualization,\u2019 though my teacher (psychologist and wise woman Colette Aboulker-Muscat) preferred to call it \u2018imagery\u2019 because she believed that we can access information through any of our senses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the mind is brought to stillness, through a brief breathing exercise and a directed intention (know as kavanah<\/i>), we can gain a deeper connection to intuition and\/or inspirational thinking. Clearly, as a writer, quieting the mind and sitting in stillness is a useful technique. But imagery work is much more complex; it is a system based on liturgical, biblical and mystical teachings that can help us contact our innermost thoughts and feelings. Using this technique can offer us healing, increased creativity and a sense of wholeness. I generally teach this method in small groups, on retreats, or as a spiritual director, with individuals of all faiths.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to being a teacher and a multiple-award-winning writer whose poetry and essays have been published in several journals and anthologies, Rose is also an editor. She knows well the power and weakness of words, and even deals with them explicitly in her work, such as in the poem \u201cetching images,\u201d which forms part of the \u201cShivering in the Silence,\u201d section of From the Dream<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh, the limitations of language,\u201d she acknowledged. \u201cYes, this is a constant tug of war! How to express what one sees, senses, feels or understands? How, especially, in those moments of enormous insight, or of injustice and deep suffering, or of great love and amazing beauty? (Is it any wonder that some midrashim describe Moses as a \u2018stutterer\u2019 or a man \u2018slow of speech\u2019?) How can words capture numinous experiences? And yet, for the poet this becomes the challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, the closer we come to describing what we think, feel, understand or experience, the better we are able to communicate with others \u2013 the closer we come to the medieval notion of what it means to be human: m\u2019daber<\/i>, the one who speaks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading From the Dream, Carol Rose\u2019s most recent collection of poetry, led me to my bookshelf, where her first collection, Behind the Blue Gate, was safely stored. This shelf is home to books that have particularly impressed me, and which I may want to read again, as well as those that have been written by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[784],"tags":[386,385,388,387],"class_list":["post-1199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-behind-the-blue-gate","tag-from-the-dream","tag-imagery","tag-poetry"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}