Tapestry of Secrets

Tapestry of Secrets provides an intimate look at the dangerous world of conversos in sixteenhundred's New Mexico through persona poems about the cycles, hidden rites, beliefs and risks of daily life where, ". . . Some secrets ennoble/their guardians, others speak from dark closets in language we no longer understand." Included are poems about Columbus and his Hebrew-speaking interpreter, a pirate Rabbi, Samuel Palache, as well as a comprehensive bibliography. Four of the poems have appeared in anthologies, and one, Kaddish, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

About the Author :
Carol Alena Aronoff, Ph.D. is a psychologist, teacher and poet. Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies including Comstock Review, Bosque, Sourland Review, Quill & Parchment, Women Write Resistance, Before There is Nowhere to Stand and Malala: Poems for Malala Yousafzai. She was twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, has published a chapbook (Cornsilk) and 5 books of poetry: The Nature of Music, Cornsilk, Her Soup Made the Moon Weep, Blessings From an Unseen World, Dreaming Earth's Body (with artist Betsie Miller-Kusz). A sixth book, The Gift of Not Finding: Poems for Meditation is forthcoming in 2020.

Review :
". . . Some secrets ennoble/their guardians, others speak from dark closets in language we no longer understand." Dr. Carol Alena Aronoff writes here of the latter, Conversos "in sixteen hundred's New Mexico," whose lives depend on withholding the secret of their Jewish lineage. Exiled by the Spanish Inquisition on pain of burning, these secret Jews can be condemned by the food they serve, old ballads, the six pointed star on the side of an old grave stone, her Abuelita's whispers--the Sh'ma--and more--"stars within crosses"--even a cross hung by the doorframe where the mezuzah would go. These exquisite poems in Spanish, English, and Hebrew reveal the stories of brave people whose descendants still observe HaShem's presence among us. With a comprehensive bibliography, Tapestry of Secrets is a treasury of information and poems. We need it to flourish. --Hilda Raz, author of All Odd and Splendid "Tapestry of Secrets is a fascinating look at the hidden world of the crypto-Jews of New Mexico through stories/persona poems about the Narrator's family, the secrets they carry dwelling 'in the between world' of Jewish and Catholic faiths and customs, and the struggles of identity in a world of autos-de-fé and intolerance. Aronoff has created perhaps her most personal and meaningful book--of interest to those of any faith." --Scott Wiggerman, author of Leaf and Beak: Sonnets; editor of Bearing the Mask: Southwestern Persona Poems