Books
Mercy
A chapbook by Alan Toltzis
Finalist in the Moonstone Poetry Competition
and short-listed for the Erbacce Prize.
Nature Lessons
Micropoems by Alan Toltzis
A series of 10 micropoems that show how much nature has to teach us just by watching carefully.
49 Aspects of Human Emotion
Poems by Alan Toltzis
About The Book
49 Aspects of Human Behavior is based on the Kabbalistic tradition that we can understand ourselves and our world, by meditating on seven aspects of out seven conscious emotions, or sephirot. Following that path, I wrote a poem on each of those nuanced emotions. For me, it was a remarkable literary journey as I experienced the world through 49 different emotional filters. While the inspiration was mystical and spiritual, the poems are grounded in the day-to-day.
The Last Commandment
Poems by Alan Toltzis
About The Book
I thought of writing my book when I vacationed in Paris with my wife and kids a number of years ago. We were in the Jewish quarter and stumbled on a synagogue that was finishing a Torah scroll and my son and I each wrote a letter. It was a very empty way to fulfill the last commandment leading me to the idea of writing a poem for each of the weekly Torah portions. My poems, which were written over the course of a year, are meditations, insights, personal recollections, or reflections that stem from a deep reading of original texts and commentaries. Using the portion as a starting place provides a natural order for the book.
"I read the poems through, and was impressed : by the cleanness of thought and the live language; the language mannered, but at the service of the meaning; all adding up."
Thomas Kinsella, Poet
Cover Art: Emily Boylan
Cover Design: Sung Hae "Dinny" Latshaw
