Bonny Finberg review

dejavu: the feeling of having experienced being in a place or something that happened before. the dejavu in this collection is the act of magic one rarely finds in the interplay of image and word, but when one does, though constantly amazed, we sigh and say, “ah yet again another unique vision. another individual way of seeing things.”  in this powerful book Finberg provides her dual magic by presenting photos that are surreal yet make us feel rooted in place and poems and one short novel that while rooted in the “real” display dreamlike qualities. both ground us yet pull us away from the mundane. both work splendidly together as with the piece fragments and the accompanying image. we see bright red flowers on a black and white balcony filled with black and white sunlight yet there is no distinction or blur between the two. we feel right at home though a bit ajar and as the poem explains there is “the logic of beauty and the wait” in “early evening blue for cold, dark night.” the book is filled with contradictions and as the title poem suggests this is a “clean reflection…in a moment that won’t stand still.” we look in the mirror and see life in its all its forms: the meat, the wine, dead lightning and coffee bars. reflections of a life lived. poem as image. image as poem. “the thing itself…a window into the street.” though Finberg states that “no one writes his autobiography in advance” this is a glance into her life and ours. “the logic of a sentence.” the nightmare of…magnificence.” “stolen thoughts.” “countless memories”. “a loosely textured fugue”.

“What is in a body?” Finberg asks. Well in the body of this book we find electricity, intoxication, “the hungry heart”, “a heartless god”, the unlimited possibilities of the here and now as well as “the vantage point of no return.”

steve dalachinsky nyc 8/11