"Eruv" is an innovative, surprising debut that won the 2013 Yale Series of Younger Poets prize. These wispy, sometimes disjointed poems arise from the idea that light, and, to some degree, paradise, can be accessed by each human being. The collection takes its title from the area that Orthodox Jews sometimes circumscribe for their Sabbath activities. Green defines an eruv as 鈥渁 ritual enclosure that opens private into public spaces.鈥�
In some poems, the room 鈥� or the passageway from it 鈥� is love, as in these lines from 鈥淪ounds (Second Walk)鈥�: 鈥淚 watch the clumsy/ grace of bicyclists in January/ unblushing the sky, shamed of nothing/ suddenly my life/ makes sense: I get along/ until the cloud just collapses.鈥�
Love is a portal and 鈥渢he future/ is love,鈥� yet just like paradise, it can be difficult to find, or to keep. Desire and the frustration of that desire fuel these poems, which still remain stubbornly hopeful. The writing here demands one鈥檚 full concentration, but gives a lot in return.
