{"id":56574,"date":"2023-04-20T12:21:22","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T16:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/?p=56574"},"modified":"2023-05-06T16:09:41","modified_gmt":"2023-05-06T20:09:41","slug":"gazing-in-wonder-at-jan-heller-levi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2023\/04\/gazing-in-wonder-at-jan-heller-levi.html","title":{"rendered":"Gazing in Wonder at Jan Heller Levi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s hard to say what is most memorable about the poems in these three collections
because it means having to choose between their emotional impact and their marvelous candor,
to say nothing of their literacy, intimacy, humor, and intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Available for purchase: orphan<\/a>, Skyspeak<\/a><\/em>, and Once I Gazed at You in Wonder<\/a><\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
excerpted from orphan: <\/em>\nBecause we like the maps<\/font>\n\nwe take the trips. The car is ready,\npacked. The adventurer waits patiently.\nWe hug each other, count to 3.\n\nI lift. It's got to be one uninterrupted\nlift from wheelchair to feet.\nBut there's an instant\n\nmidway, when the adventurer\nhangs in my arms between rising\nand falling\u2014\u2014his chest tilts forward,\n\nhis butt juts back, his jeans\nride down, his shirt rides up,\nhis belly dangles in the gap\u2014\u2014\n\nit isn't dignified<\/em>. And then we find\nthe click. It's like we're both holding on\nand both letting go\u2014\u2014hallelujah\u2014\u2014he's\n\nup. On his own two feet. Don't \nmarry him, some good friends said,\nyour life will be so circumscribed<\/em>.\nAt the top of the lift, we've added a kiss.\n\nWe'd take the kiss without the lift, but that's\nnot possible. Maybe our kiss is a gentle\n\nfuck you to anyone who's watching\nwho thinks our life is less than theirs.\nBecause we like the maps, we take the trips.\n\n\u00a9 2014 by Jan Heller Levi<\/a>\n<\/em><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IIt’s hard to say what is most memorable about the poems in these three collections\u2014”orphans,” “Skyspeak,” and “Once I Gazed at You in Wonder”\u2014 because it means having to choose between their emotional impact and their marvelous candor, to say nothing of their literacy, intimacy, humor, and intelligence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":56573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26,18,4,23,17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-56574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"category-literature","9":"category-main","10":"category-news","11":"category-political-culture","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/3-by-jan-heller-levi-bdr750.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-eIu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56574"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56846,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56574\/revisions\/56846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}