“It is gratifying to read poetry that cares about devotion and dignity, by a poet who is capable of lyric sensibility with bold and fearless reach. Nudelman addresses the enigmas of illness, loss, vision and forgiveness in language lit with commitment.” – Elana Wolff.

“These are poems of maturity that grapple with life's terrible losses. With candour and grace, they move knowingly through pain to resilience and calm.” – Ruth Panofsky

“In The Seeker Ascends, Merle Nudelman dares to tackle the most painful question of all, how to come to terms with the loss of a child.  Drawing on Judeo/Christian, pagan, and new-age mysticism lexica and lenses,  Nudelman pushes for answers until her narrator ultimately reconciles with her fate—“[Despite] Devotion to the power of three three three./Still, at thirty-three her son dies.”  What follows is an unstoppable poetics of energy and life force that bursts and thrusts with linguistic force all in defiance of death. Yet despite everything, the narrator can no longer heal her dying son, and finally surrenders to the question of “What now?”  finding both peace and forgiveness.” – Laura Lush.

Review

"This book had me right from the opening quote by Pablo Neruda

“That time was like never, and like always/.
So, we go there, where nothing is waiting;/
we find everything waiting there.”

The imagery, mood, and inherent hush pervading the poem “Autumnal” are brilliant and haunting: “Mallard’s dance tenders // maples flushed gold / the heft of this quiet / on their shoulders”. and there is a bending and a blending of human heart and earthly horizon in the last lines of the poem: “woven into oneness / you, me / this sunset, distant land // there yet here / as well”.

Here is a sample of a couple of stanzas of esoteric recipe in the poem “Sensation and the Sublime” “Rooted in alabaster / she’s a sail seeking. / Silence reverberates /// she enters the garden, / breeze’s spectrum, / listens for reflections.”

“Old Business” brings the spectre of fear to life in the crash bang backdrop of a timid inferred music… a song almost forgotten but unfortunately remembered: It is four powerful stanzas of loud symphonic blasts and tender troughs. I would offer a sample here but cannot as the poem must be read as a whole. And, it definitely is a poem that needs to be read and digested in one’s own personal space.

In “Mechanics and Metamorphosis” the heaviness of the moment manifests: “Destiny pounds / demonic on the door / We hide / even as she slides beneath.” Devotion under harsh circumstances rears its beautiful head in the lines “Poisoned you tend me’ // broken, I coddle you.” It is the becoming of the metamorphosis and the metamorphosis of the becoming. A fine poem indeed!

And last but certainly not least, my favourite poem is “Life Dream” It runs through the ‘possibilities’ of three scenarios: All the world’s a stage /// and all the men and women merely players /// They have their exits and their entrances” These three premises are layered over one: “and one man in his time plays many parts.” This poem makes you question the reality of the dream, which may not be the dream in reality " – Candice James, Canadian Poetry Review, June 11, 2018