The Dreams We Share
ISBN 978-1-63649-694-8
2023 Poetic Matrix Press
$17.50, 111 pages, paper
Reviewed by Dave Seter
Raphael Block’s most recent book, The Dreams We Share, fulfills the need for contemporary nature poetry written from a spiritual point of view. While unapologetically expressing an ecstatic response to nature, these poems acknowledge the human capacity to heal or to harm our world. Countering the cynical point of view that planet Earth is too far degraded to save, these poems seem to say: celebrating what sustains us motivates us to heal our world.
These poems don’t promote organized religion but, rather, express spirituality of an organic nature. An example can be found in “Angels Unaware.” Angels are not specifically called onto the page, other than in the title. The poem does call to the reader’s attention a variety of organic and mechanical sounds, including: whirring sparrows; children’s laughter; and a revving motor. The poet enters the realm of the ecstatic by dancing with hazel, oak, and bay laurel trees. The poem ends: “Birdsong, a dog’s yip— / something or someone / is listening in” The poem ends unpunctuated, leaving open the possibility of angels existing while also challenging us to fully notice what exists within our surroundings.
As the collection proceeds, the poet’s own story unfolds, lending perspective, and providing a time stamp of our era. An example can be found in “Red Apple,” which begins with the poet washing an apple, capturing the wash-water with a bucket in drought-stricken California. The poet carries the apple along on a walk while pondering the fragility of life. In the apple, the poet finds hope: “… the core of a story threading through thousands / of years—those who’ve endured without / extinguishing that apple or its tree.” By linking human survival to the tree’s survival, the poem moves beyond a nature poetry of human dominance, instead envisioning humankind as one part of an ecological whole.
Block’s poetry is rich with sound. “The Whale’s Song” sings an elegy to the gray whale, a species not yet extinct, but endangered. While commercial whaling has been banned by the International Whaling Commission, human induced climate change has disrupted food chains which nurture the gray whale. The poem celebrates the whale: “You have danced / in the depths for eons, / the ocean’s moods and moons / embedded in your bones…” The poem ends with the whale wailing, a play on words yet also a powerful evocation of a mode of song which, if silenced, will leave the human species feeling poorer for the loss.
Taken as a whole, these poems argue that all life is precious, not just human life. In that sense, the dreams we share may be shared with other species making an appearance in the book, including the sparrow, the gray whale, the Western pond turtle, and many others. What do we dream most of? Beyond mere survival, perhaps the joy of our chosen song.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 25, Issue 5.
Dave Seter is an ecopoet and the author of Don’t Sing to Me of Electric Fences, Cherry Grove Collections (2021). His poems and critical works have appeared in Appalachia, Cider Press Review, Confluence, The Hopper, Paterson Literary Review, Raven Chronicles, and other journals. He has received two Pushcart nominations. He earned his undergraduate degree in civil engineering from Princeton University and his graduate degree in humanities from Dominican University of California. www.daveseter.com.
Raphael Block’s poetry, infused with spirit, speaks to earth’s call for a heartfelt response to our ecological crisis. Born on a kibbutz, he spent his boyhood playing on the hills of Haifa. His family returned to London as he turned nine, where learning British English shaped his ear for sound. In 1993 he moved to Northern California with his American wife and their daughter. His partner died from cancer in 2002, and for the following years he feels it was his privilege to raise their child.
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