Confessions of a Jewish Texan
Denouement
like a Sabbath candle
blue flame consuming white.
Let my blackened wick glow,
sapphire bird with an orange beak,
or my final light halo a molten core.
Let me trail undulating ribbons of smoke,
curling, forked, dancing into the void,
filling emptiness with grace.
“Dede Fox brings her fine work of memory to the reader in many forms: free verse, ingenious line breaks, inscape rhythms, concrete poem, one playful nod to Wallace Stevens, and of course, the confessional. Not since reading William Jay Smith’s Cherokee Lottery have I seen such poignant personal histories of a crash of cultures put down so artfully on the page; reaffirming my belief that history is best written, understood and fully realized through poetry. Though Fox’s work is mostly one family’s story told through the eyes of a descendent, it resonates powerfully with the universal immigrant experience so unique to America.”
—David M. Parsons, 2011 Texas State Poet Laureate
