Set in Rochester, New York, in the fifties, this extraordinary book-length sequence traces the year in a boy's life leading up to his bar mitzvah and passage into manhood. There is a lively mixture of ethnic groups here-many of them displaced by the war in Europe-with new hopes and dreams. It is a uniquely American place, where "no matter how far down you started from, you began again from the beginning."
As the alternately elegiac and humorous poems conclude, the boy has become a man with a family of his own, but memories of his childhood linger. The cycles of life go on, and Schultz continues to render them with wit, grace, and above all a sense of wonder.
I know what Mrs. Einhorn said Mrs. Edels told Mr. Kook about us: God save us from having one shirt, one eye, one child. I know in order to survive. Grandma throws her shawl of exuberant birds over her bony shoulders and ladles up yet another chicken thigh out of the steaming broth of the infinite night sky. -from "Grandma climbs"
- A Poetic Coming of Age: Follow a young boy through the pivotal year leading to his bar mitzvah, captured in a series of unforgettable, deeply personal poems.
- 1950s American Life: Step into the vanished world of Rochester, New York, a vibrant, volatile community of immigrants, survivors, and families all trying to build a new life after the war.
- A Dysfunctional Family Portrait: With raw honesty and unexpected humor, these poems navigate a home filled with love, chaos, a volatile uncle, and a grandmother whose wisdom is as sharp as her wit.
- Father and Son Story: Explore the complex bond between a son and his larger-than-life father, a dreamer whose ambitions clash with the gritty reality of their lives on Cuba Place.