New poetry from Judith Roitman. 65 pages, Copyright 2018, 5.5 by 8.5.
What are we looking at? That is the question that Judith Roitman's
fascinating Roswell poses to "eyewitnesses" and readers alike. Whether
through a narrative debris field of testimonies, articles, and reports, or
from the point of view of an abject alien in the desert, that elusive "it"
is "seen as wished for never more than never recognized." Ultimately,
Roitman's compelling poems are about that which seems alien, other,
only partially experienced, when the "positive malfunctioned." In
other words, this is a book about 2018 as much as 1947. You need to
read it. Joseph Harrington, author of Of Some Sky
Review :
Judith Roitman's suite of documentary-poetic lyrics, Roswell, parses
elements of narrative fact/fallacy. Take-off point is New Mexico, 1947,
intersection of flying saucer crash reports and coverups. Redacted,
randomized, resurrected texts jigsaw a story that is or could be. The
poet is storyteller for a script that continuously shapeshifts. Words are
reassigned in each moment of this essential collection.
Denise Low, winner Red Mountain Editor's Choice Award
What are we looking at? That is the question that Judith Roitman's
fascinating Roswell poses to "eyewitnesses" and readers alike. Whether
through a narrative debris field of testimonies, articles, and reports, or
from the point of view of an abject alien in the desert, that elusive "it"
is "seen as wished for never more than never recognized." Ultimately,
Roitman's compelling poems are about that which seems alien, other,
only partially experienced, when the "positive malfunctioned." In
other words, this is a book about 2018 as much as 1947. You need to
read it.
Joseph Harrington, author of Of Some Sky
Judith Roitman's Roswell makes me wonder whether it's possible
for humans to engage aliens without the former humanizing the
latter. The poems, after all, claim "surviving alien remembers its
descendants," "surviving alien remembers nourishment," and so on
as if the human Roitman can inhabit non-earthling point of views.
Such may be considered empathy. But for these poems relating to 1947
events to come out in 2018 is also to emphasize how little empathy is
displayed today by the U.S. administration for "aliens" of a different
sort but within the same species. How far humanity has fallen. These
poems accomplish what good poems do: go beyond themselves into
other matters as they make the reader think.
Eileen R. Tabios, author of Love In A Time of Belligerence
