In his new book Rain Witness, Ed Ryterband--psychologist, teacher, standup comedian, father, husband, lover and poet-explores intense moments in his long and varied life. During the Covid epidemic, he's been down in his basement, going through "that old maple bookcase," recreating his "once upon a time." He explains how a child becomes a "Giraffe Whisperer", touches a giraffe before "she slowly raises her head way up to the sky." But this 80-year-old poet doesn't live in the past, and he does not "feel like a patriarch." He contemplates everything from "Night Crullers" to "Cantaloupes," discusses "The Deal between Narcissus, the Foxes and Weasels" as political fable, and meditates upon the death of a lobster as his own demise: "When I'm not looking," he tells Death, "take me then." Ryterband knows, "Time is a wicked shadow" and "Surrender is a tricky skill."
-Lois Marie Harrod, Spat, Woman, Nightmares of the Minor Poet
I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to read and sit with the poems in Rain Witness. A gratifying union of humor and reflection, Ryterband's jokes, ponderings, myths and visions represent a man responding to a life well lived. This collection is a considerate retrospective, piecing together life's moments to make sense of time and how it passes. The words offer peace in the pauses between milestones: a quiet breath outside, a familiar loving touch, a fleeting distant memory. Lyrical, contemporary, and honest, Ryterband looks to the past with magnanimity and weighs the future with courage.
-Taylor Myers, Artistic Director Roll the Bones Theater Company
Poetry is most successful when it engenders an emotional response, providing a fleeting moment of connection that moves the reader to reflect on those heartfelt experiences that touch every life: love and loss, nature and beauty, the passage of time and thoughts that come whenever we pause to pay attention. The poems in Rain Witness are profound with wisdom and insight, portraying lessons learned ("Listen, yeah to me/I can give you something precious/The secret to a better life...Be nice, real nice") and questions yet unanswered ("Still, in unexpected moments/questions uninvited/slither in among our precious things.") With great passion and poignancy, Ed Ryterband bares his soul, allowing us to share his journey as the aging process unfolds and a new understanding illuminates his life.
-Rabbi Sally J. Priesand, America's first female rabbi
