Stephen Rifkin

The Merit of Light: Poems by Stephen Rifkin

A debut collection of poetry inspired by the author?s relationship with his wife and their time living on an island in Maine. Rifkin?s poems... communicate both the beauty and isolation of island life, and his wife?s simple but lovely sketches enhance the poems, making them even more evocative. The illustration of birds flying over a moonlit ocean, which accompanies ?Tides For the Moon,? is especially pretty. Although the collection contains some love poems, including the very romantic ?In Love,? many are more impressionistic than overtly emotional. In the beautiful ?Of Irises,? the author displays his playful, creative skills with language: ?in a garden / at dusk / blades stem and bud or now stars / bluish and blush.? The collection?s closing series of three poems, together titled ?Views of Italy,? strikes a more satisfying balance between a narrative style of verse and rich, thoughtful word choice. In ?A Fury in the Trees of Tuscany,? Rifkin writes, ?Yet there was beauty, too, to be fair, / the fat-cheeked children, and the young mothers, / fair-skinned and dark, and not just blood on / the walls, / the tatter of flag stuck to a dying horse.? Kirkus Indie Reviews