Seattle-based poet Emily Warn weaves a series of complex themes associated with Jewish history, as well as universal truths about history, faith, God and language in her new book, "The Novice Insomniac" (Copper Canyon Press). Warn will read at Shaman Drum at 8 o'clock this evening.
Born in San Francisco but raised in Michigan, Warn attended both Kalamazoo College and the University of Washington. She also held a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University, and she has published three previous collections of poetry.
Her latest collection features many Jewish images concerned with female roles. They are a refreshing contrast to traditional stories based on New Testament tales. In particular, a heroine of Jewish history, Queen Esther, takes on a role of great importance and defiance. Also, Warn illustrates the overall theme of crossing boundaries between the self and God.
"The Novice Insomniac" is divided into seven sections - "On the Insomniac's Watch," "Kaddish," "The House of Esther," "Highway Suite," "Starvation Hill," "Bravura" and "Solitary Date Orchard." Each section leaves the reader with a new sense of truth as Warn sculpts her words and images into the poetic narratives and histories of her characters.
In the poem "Moving," which initiates the collection, the persona discusses the act of giving a speech, "delivering a funeral oration / or a lecture about rain." The image of rain as sharp and hazardous emerges throughout the poem: "Outside, rain drills its pointers / into the ground." This coupling of the rain with images of death permeate the beginning of the collection, but eventually goes through drastic changes as the poems progress.
Surreal images abound in the title poem. The female persona claims to "hold night inside a box." Because she cannot sleep, she feels as if all the night belongs to her. The insomniac counts hour by hour. Eventually, it becomes the insomniac's job to pick garbage up off the street. A stranger, "The Novice Insomniac," enters the poem, dumping garbage back onto the street. Frustrated because he cannot sleep, he begs for someone to understand his behavior: "Please, I cannot sleep."
The collection closes with the poem, "Tower of Babel," in which the rains have finally ceased. "After days, the torrential rains / stop." The poem then continues, exploring the mysterious history of language: "I find a pine with a step ladder branches. / From the top rung I hear / wind scattering original language." It was because of the Tower of Babel that languages were born, and people from different lands could no longer understand each other. In this poem, Warn writes: "When God hid their words / in the wind's voices, limiting / their pitch to whispers of leaves."
The character Esther reemerges through "The Novice Insomniac." Historically, Queen Esther saved the Jews from persecution in Persia. The historical Esther is brought into contemporary literature here, and her strength carries over into the '90s. The modern Esther does not adhere to strict traditions of Jewish law.
The speaker in the following excerpt, from "Trouble," has much admiration for the brave queen. Warn poses Esther as a religious prophet who rivals God in her mind. She uses the ceremonious Kiddish as a means to celebrate her rebellion:
Without hiding her face,
she stared into the Shabbas flame,
tossed the Kiddish wine
into her mouth, celebrating
her rebel ways. And God,
she said, didn't blink.
Then I knew she was great as God.
Emily Warn captures many profound emotions and ideas like those above in "The Novice Insomniac"; her poems find a balance between details and voice which lead to the stunning content of her poetry.
