The Trouble with Truth

Being able to find the humor in heartache, the transcendent in tragedy and the funny in folly is an ability that deserves more exercise from all of us. In this second collection of poems following the publication of The Sunset Years, Rabbi Bernstein-Goff shares some of his personal successes and failures in a world where truth is often elusive and deception is everywhere beginning with one’s self. Thus Uncle Bernie humorously recalls the deception of an old family friend, while Jacob’s Song reminds us that a biblical patriarch is not above using deception to get the blessing he wants to become. Poems like Russian Lullaby and The Meshugeneh explore how the avoidance of truth by the masking of personal pain can come back to haunt us, occasionally with a devastating finality. Many of the poems in this collection deal with family relationships and the bitter sweet realities that accompany the process of sharing our vulnerabilities and too often the failure to do so with those we love. Yet strangely enough, sometimes even failure creates opportunities for redemption. Finally, poems like The Shoe Box and Death Bed Daydream celebrate our living, our dying, and our death.