Dialogue A Door
About the book Victoriana:
This small book of poems invites you to discover poetry through the eyes of Emily Isaacson. This collection of her select poetry touches on all that she has claimed as sacred in her life:
“All that she claimed as sacred in her life,
are as the artefacts for a future art gallery.
As a child, she collects the rocks,
shells and seaweed of the shore for her museum;
sea stars are the lights of Stella Maris.
Later, as a gallery attendant, she leads us on a tour
of the museum of human life, its first conception
through final breath and beyond.”
—Isaacson, “Door to the Sea”
Isaacson is a proponent and validator of the value of human life and all that is cherished. She speaks in her poet’s voice into all that has meaning in building not only a person but a human race. To understand what it means to be intrinsically human, and also party to the Divine, there is a moment of revelation. In this light of transcendence we are given more than a memento or souvenir, we are given a symbol and a sign.
The signs of life guide our way as we travel life’s road. The roadmap is one we can comprehend, and navigate from. Our compass may include many works of literature, and the observation of others. Isaacson has said that the open page is like the open road. There is the freedom of independence. The maternity of dark’s womb becoming brightness, a descant into dawn.
Victoriana lets us in on stirring recollections of the soul. These writings reflect both the inner and outer voice of dialogue, and this is what draws a reader into the story or word picture. Dialogue is first and foremost an invitation; it allows one speaker to describe to another their inner turmoil, crisis, and hostility. Yet it also allows for resolution, when the speakers work together with inclusive language to resolve the conflict.
Isaacson delineates through characterization and the process of dialogue the healing of the human soul. Dialogue helps us to understand our use of language and the language of others in rectifying any imbalance in our internal and external world. There are both internal and external voices. The language of conflict and its resolution allow us to see through a window into the soul, and map its terrain. Our view of the inner landscape widens, and we can see the domain.
Domains of the heart are closely guarded by words. Words are like the key which unlock the door to our intellect, understanding and wisdom. Using appropriate words to demonstrate our inner landscape help us more accurately communicate, and more adeptly write. Creative writing is concerned with both a character’s inner world and outer one. Learning about creative communication helps us be writers who consider all the angles to existence, as does Isaacson.
The deities of verse converge in Victoriana, this time, not as witches, as in the opening of Macbeth, but the trinity in open anthem to a new Isaacson in black and white. Unlike her past, Isaacson is stymied and didactic, her romance is bold, her wherewithal unabated, and her exacting end within sight. Isaacson will again show a proud and vivid front to the army that is relentless in its patriotism.
The New World sounds its horn to all its evangelists, antagonists and enthusiasts, in bold claim of the English language and all its endeavors. There are those who will rise up. This new renaissance of post-modern verse varies in its expense from page to page, and yet, no expense is spared. The jewels of the world vary greatly, but few are as rare a find as this trilogy of works of the Black Saint: Isaacson at best, singular compatriot of Dymer at worst.
The ulterior meaning does not escape us. She sings, she spins, she sews, and as a midwife, she gives birth: the concepts of God as mother are unanimous. The verse and poet, unbound, do acknowledge a feminine deity and one that is comfort and near. There is a deeper meaning to every line: the chance to sing in body, to imitate the old covenant with verse and song, the rhyme of a desert journey, the shining sonnet of a well-traveled ear—all these compose Isaacson.
The Emily Isaacson Institute
September 19, 2015
