Dear Readers,

Please enjoy the following literary essay. To obtain a copy of The American Poet Who Went Home Again  and read an expanded version of this creative nonfiction title, plus more than a dozen others please click here .

“But I am not wise enough for a national criticism, and must use the old largeness a little longer, to discharge my errand from the muse to the poet concerning his art.”
––Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Poet” (Essays: Second Series) 
 

Not long ago, while going about my pre-holiday affairs, I found myself unexpectedly encountering images from the numerous poems, stories, and prose pieces of writers at AuthorsDen. I might be watching an exciting martial arts fantasy when, somewhat incongruently it would seem to me, something startling would occur. Right in the middle of a high-flying kick or a deadly glance between enemies, there would appear an unrepentant lover from one of Tinka Boukes’ poems. Or, there might appear a techno-warrior from one of Mark A. Rockeymoore’s stories, or a naked-soul heroine from a write by Phyllis Jean Greene.
 

Having been prone to a strong imagination and even bona fide visions all my life, I wasn’t too disturbed by the occasional literary intrusion but was forced to take note as they increased. Strolling down a grocery store aisle, a renegade cyborg from Paul Williams’ pen would announce its presence. A breathtaking Canadian landscape conjured by Regis Aufrey’s poetry could suddenly unfold, or the voice of a wise matriarch come booming out of Cynth’ya Lewis Reed’s den.
 

In fact, the images would arrive from the works of more gifted writers than I could identify in this space: Nordette Adams, Zinta Aistars, Blueflame/Vesna, Jerry Bolton, Kate Burnside, Mari D’India, Peter Gardner, Muhammad Al Mahdi, Sandra Mushi,  and MANY more. I decided they were blessings helping me to increase and refine my own writing efforts.
 

Because I had become accustomed to these literary visitations, I was surprised but not too overwhelmed one morning when I walked yawning into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. Turning away from the kettle on the stove and moving toward the sink, I opened the curtains to look outside and see what the winter birds were doing. Morning usually brings a cardinal or two perched in the dogwood tree, and maybe a couple of blue jays fussing over the bird bath. On this particular morning, however, there instead of my back yard was one Andre Emmanuel Bendavi ben-YEHU, a poet, riding a powder-blue steed through a desert. As he rode, he fired arrows toward blazing sand dunes. Where these arrows landed, different things materialized: pages of philosophy would flutter on the heated wind; a stream would burst gushing out of the sand, or a poet would appear carving letters into a stone. With the kettle whistling on the stove behind me, I peered into the vision of the poet firing arrows from his sky-blue horse and thought, I know you write exceptional poetry Mr. Bendavi ben-YEHU, but really!
 

As stated, I had become somewhat accustomed to these visions pronouncing themselves. But the big difference between other AuthorsDen-influenced sightings and this one was that is featured an image of the poet himself as opposed to a scene or a character from one of his works. That one detail prompted an extended concentrated meditation upon the body of the poet’s work, his stated purposes, and potential impact.      
 

2.
 

It is difficult, at first, to decide how seriously one wishes to consider a poet who declares himself as “a commander in the ‘Army of FAIRNESS and JUSTICE,’ poemizing and poeticizing, marching ‘on a journey to justice for justice everywhere.’” These are huge words. Yet even more incredulous is the eventual realization that occurs upon studying the poetry accumulated on Bendavi ben-YEHU’s web site. Amused doubt gives way to astonished conviction.  One becomes inclined to consider that the poet has come very close to endowing his literary vision with a validity, substantiality, and relevance that few achieve. Moreover, he has accomplished this by virtue of a paradox: as the faithful “commander” of his “army of Fairness and Justice,” Bendavi ben-YEHU appears himself to humbly follow classic prototypes of style and principle. The commanding generals from whom he might take orders would have to be described as the integrity that motivates his pen and the elegant themes and forms that carry out its inspired plans. Aesthetic responsibility, political and social accountability, romantic love, fraternal camaraderie, historical truth, philosophical clarity, scientific investigation, and spiritual exultation all lend direction and power to his efforts.
 

Whereas mastery of form and powerful themes give authority to any poet’s pen, the greater distinction derives from the purpose for which these are employed. The form is only as effective as the character of the spirit that inhabits it. Among some contemporary poets, individuals write, or speak, eloquently about their various prejudices, phobias, lusts, or obsessions. They can make a racist diatribe sound like a lullaby, make neurotic rage and bigotry sound like a glorious anthem, or pass off a soul-less lust for self-indulgence as a hymn to heaven. In short, the poetry is often written and presented to serve that which is weakest in the poet in particular and in humanity in general. Nevertheless, because every poet is rightfully entitled to his or her individual perspective and methodology, every poet’s voice is a valid and valued one.
 

If the poet Bendavi ben-YEHU is given to such literary excesses as described, it must be said that he at least is not given to publicly exhibiting them. In fact, the evidence of his poetry indicates the exact opposite: a will and desire to encourage the higher development of all for the sake of all. This is easily apparent in a poem such as his “United Letters,” in which the poet simultaneously reinforces the value of a knowledge of language, while utilizing qualities of the same to illustrate the advantages of social harmony. The same may be said of his “Christmas/Navidad,” which goes beyond a sentimental observation of the holiday to implore in its last lines:
 

                        “Will SIMONIACS, and the heads of war

                        stop killing the infants starved at their door?”    
 

Such works as the above imply a kind of nobility and dedication to principle uncommon in these scandalized war-burdened days of 2005 soon to be 2006. But the evidence of its authenticity holds up particularly well when one looks at the acrostic profiles that have accumulated, like gold-framed oil portraits, in Bendavi ben-YEHU’s den since March 2003. Of the 96 titles made available in the poet’s den on December 8, 2005, no less than 26 were acrostics dedicated to other creative artists, most affiliated at one time or anther with AuthorsDen. The acrostic is a popular form for both poets and readers. In the hands, however, of Bendavi ben-YEHU, it functions as a tool of both literature and history. How? By utilizing poetry to record his impressions of specific members of an online writers’ community known as AuthorsDen. As is his literary inclination, he moves in these poetic portraits beyond flat banal descriptions and renders his subjects in exultations of his perception of their finest qualities. In this way, he also provides subtle yet concrete inspiration for others to cultivate such qualities within themselves. He himself was inspired enough by several of his subjects to produce not one but two acrostics in their honor.
 

The following is a chronological listing of acrostics by Bendavi ben-YEHU with the name of the subject followed by the title of the poem and the date it was posted in parentheses:

 

             Tanya Ruth Larson, "Alumna of Minerva" (3/12/03)

            Arlene Herring, “The Artist of the Verb” (3/14/03)

             Peggy J. Bertrand, “Precious Poem” (6/4/03)

             Debashish Haar, “A Genius that the Gods Envy” (8/25/03)

             Bobbi Duffy, “Aroma of Hope” (12/10/03)

             Robert Jude Forese, “A Knight of His Own” (12/13/03)

             Peggy J. Bertrand, “Flawless Might” (12/14/03)

             Joseph Sherman, “A Wise Man” (12/17/03)

             Elizabeth Lucas Taylor, “The ‘Botschafterin’ of Phoebus” (12/18/03)

             Labelle Rouge, “Eternal Mother” (12/19/03)

             Alexandra Oliveira Forte, “Luso-Mother” (12/27/03)

             Rodney Evan Bohen, “Busy Firefly” (12/29/03)

             Lucy Edwards, “Letters” (12/30/03)

             Eileen T. Waldron, “Creator’s Prize” (12/31/03)

             Drew Trudeau, “The Musician and Poet” (1/7/04)

             Karla Dorman and Karen Lynn Vidra, “The Twinnest Sisters in Texas” (1/9/04)

             William Murray Sowman, “A Photo of Bill Murray’s Biography” (1/14/04)

             Maria Lupinacci, “Princess Holy” (1/16/04)

             John Lawton, “Memorandum to a Poet” (1/19/04)

             Alexandra Oliveira Forte, “Rare Gift” (2/13/04)

             William Murray Sowman, “A Real Patrimony” (2/21/04)

             Tinka Boukes, “A Sister of the Gods” (3/19/04)

             Maria Lupinacci, “A Firefly” (5/7/04)

               Tanya Ruth Larson, "Voyage" (5/18/04)

             Pablo Neruda, “Pablo Neruda” (8/8/04)

             George Carroll, “George Carroll-Musician and Poet” (2/19/05)

             Aberjhani, “The Onyx of Savannah” (10/23/05)

A fascinating aspect regarding this acrostics series is that a number of them, such as “A Sister of the Gods,” dedicated to Tinka Boukes, are simultaneously written in some form of the sonnet, Elizabethan or otherwise. As it happens, Bendavi ben-YEHU is particularly adept at the Italian sonnet (or Petrarchan sonnet) and presents engaging variations on its rhyme schemes. For that matter, however, when he chooses to be, Bendavi ben-YEHU is very much the modern formalist and employs the skills of such effectively enough that his work can fit easily into an academic text. Nevertheless, the purpose of this writing is not to offer an examination of his use of couplets, Terza rima, or the quatrain.  It is the essence of his writings that generated a vision of it and that of which I hope to communicate some meaningful sense. 
  

3.
 

Some of Bendavi ben-YEHU’s strongest (and therefore more controversial) work focuses on misconceptions––one could even say myth-conceptions––of history. He also tends not to pull punches when addressing issues dealing with corruption in either politics or religious organizations. His poems, “Couldn’t It Be Nay,” “End of Serfdom,” “The Knight-Errant of the Big Apple,” and “King of the Animals” are unapologetic examples of this poet on his “journey to justice for justice everywhere.” One huge diamond in the crown in of this particular aspect of his work would have to be the poem, “Wake Up Century.”
 

Composed of some 1,008 lines that comprise 252 stanzas, “Wake Up Century,” as it is presented in Bendavi ben-YEHU’s den, prints out to 37 pages, including a page of notes by the author. An additional 5 pages of reviews follow with readers declaring the work as everything from “didactic” and “beautiful” to the brilliant Tarek Hassan’s summation of it as: “The profound vision of a poet miraculously seeing through the impenetrable brain washing that pursues us all.”   
 

In truth, with its penetrating analysis of historical events’ impact on modern political policies, “Wake Up Century” could have been penned by the great social critic Noam Chomsky if poetry was his chosen genre. One of the poem’s less sensational stanzas (in terms of assertions made throughout) may also be one of its more definitive:
 

XL
This is a new century for human consciousness;
Mankind must be able to prevent the killing rain
And the degrading alienation of the human brain,
Before the homey blue Planet cries out total craziness!
 

“Wake Up Century” reads like a political editorial written by a poet-prophet shouting his soul for the redemption of historical truth and integrity in a modern wilderness of fear and corruption. Lest anyone brand the poet heretical or unpatriotic for this, it should be noted that much of the best and more influential history being written at this turn of the twenty-first century is revisionist in nature. If anything, “Wake Up Century” is an exceptionally humane, spiritual, and patriotic act that pleads with nations and citizens alike to at least attempt to recognize and honor humanity’s potential for true greatness.
 

The poem is something of a wonder in regard to its multitude of aesthetic qualities and demonstrates the unique compelling power of individual perspective that any given poet may bring to his or her work. In this case, among other elements, the poet employs economic theory in an unexpected way. In addition to using it as a tool to illustrate the wayward practices of world governments, he also uses it as a metaphor to reinforce the value of human life over material wealth and power: “We are the stockholders of the Human Corporation” (CI). The impact of economic imbalance leading to social unrest, the history of the Catholic Church, international relations between the United States and the rest of the world, and even the history of language all fuse to create a masterwork of early new millennium literature.
  

4.
 

The political is only one source of subject matter for Bendavi ben-YEHU’s work. He shares with many of his contemporaries a keen awareness of trends in modern science, leading to the use of such images as turbo engines, space ships, and cloning. Interestingly enough, the poet does not bother so much to attack the practice or concept of cloning as appropriate it for his own spiritual literary purposes in poems like “Here I Am” and “When the Blades of the Swords Shine.” Whereas he may at times acknowledge the moral and mortal threat of unchecked trends in science, he also celebrates the joy of intellectual freedom and communication made possible by the technologies of cyberspace.
 

In many ways, the poet has much in common with literary ancestors such Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily Dickinson, and William Shakespeare.  He shares with Emerson a gift for metaphorical form and metaphysical substance that celebrates, and thus inspires, human potential and the common good. He shares with Dickinson a compressed style of diction and syntax that packs entire schools of thought and depths of perception into a few phrases. An obvious difference between the two is Dickinson’s famed fondness for using dashes to highlight exclamatory phrases. Bendavi ben-YEHU occasionally uses the same device but more often employs ellipses to achieve the same effect. Nevertheless, echoes of Dickinson’s thunderbolt intensity are clear enough.
 

Like both Dickinson and Shakespeare (in the bard’s sonnets, soliloquies, and elsewhere) the poet’s exceptional command of language allows him to express ideas and construct imagery with uncommon precision, eloquence, and clarity. Moreover, he often does so in both English and Spanish. Indeed, there are in the poet’s den nearly a dozen titles that feature bilingual versions.
 

In poems like “The 12 Commandment of the Poets” and “Forget Not Poets,” Bendavi ben-YEHU actually goes a step beyond his classic influences. The Greek philosopher Plato, the aforementioned Emerson, and others have sometimes described the nature and creative powers of poets, either disparaging their influence on the general society or praising such an influence. As a minister might address his congregation, a military leader his troops, or a brother his siblings, Bendavi ben-YEHU often in his work addresses poets themselves. He speaks to them as a community of uniquely empowered citizens whose gifts for articulation, discernment, inspiration, and creative vision bestows upon them not just individual glamour or fame (if that) but responsibility. Note, for example, this first stanza from “The Twelve Commandments of the Poets”:
 

       1.

We shall not forget that we are the builders of the language,
       And that our language is made of wonders and beauty,
       Imagination and intuition, art and science, grace and love.

It would be a mistake to equate this will to serve the greater poetic good with egotism. Where Bendavi ben-YEHU’s work is concerned, the main purpose for writing is always the promotion of principles in defense of excellence, art, love, grace, political equanimity, and intelligence. Regarding poets specifically, the masterful author/poet/musician Mark A. Rockeymoore, in his review of the Bendavi ben-YEHU’s “Make It Flow,” put it this way: “It seems to be your gift, to evoke wonder and appreciation in your writes, to speak to the whole, rather than to separate parts. A blessed calling indeed.”
 

CONCLUSION
 

This essay is subtitled Towards an Appreciation of Poets at Work because it is neither intended nor offered as a definitive scholarly study. One could easily, in this case, have composed an entire essay on the poet’s reviews of others but those have not been addressed here. This is but an invitation for those unfamiliar with the luminous works of Andre Emmanuel Bendavi ben-YEHU to immerse themselves in their light. Likewise, it is proposal that those already familiar with the poet might enjoy revisiting his den and, for a fresh experience of them, read the poems for new perspectives and within different applied contexts.
 

In a recent poem entitled “Browsing the Poetry Shelf at a Bookstore,” the poet and editor Debashish Haar observed a glaring lack of books by contemporary poets on the shelves of a favored bookstore. That being the case almost universally, one cannot claim surprise to learn there are not available any books by Bendavi ben-Yehu. At the same time, a reader cannot help feeling that something is gravely wrong when the distinguished editors, executives, and literary agents of publishing houses fail to recognize such a classic literary artist. While the Internet has provided access to Bendavi ben-YEHU’s work––as it has to many gifted poets’ work––it is a different kind of access from that afforded by the inked pages of a physical book.
 

Fortunately, numerous readers and fellow scribes at AuthorsDen have often recognized the exceptional qualities of Bendavi ben-YEHU’s work in their reviews of it. In one such review, for the poem “Leafless,” the composer and poet William Murray Sowman offered this miniature acrostic:
  
      

A– always alert to the dangers that surround us.
       N– never misses the mark with this poetry.
       D– diligent, persuasive, and highly respected.
       R– right in his assertions and dissertations.
       E– envied by those of lesser talent and loved by many.

           ––William Murray Sowman

 
Moreover, poet Erin Elizabeth Kelly Moen acknowledged Bendavi ben-YEHU’s sixtieth birthday, on March 1, 2005, with her own masterful poem named after the poet himself.  

Kelly Moen’s poem is, in fact, part of a small corpus of works presented in acknowledgment of Bendavi ben-YEHU’s achievements. These include the following:
 

                 Londis Carpenter,“ANDRE” (

6/11/03)

                  Robin A. Spicer, “Salutations” (

7/12/03)

                  Nicole L. Davis Vergara, “Warrior’s Prayer” (

1/1/04)

                  Leland Waldrip, “Andre, The Giant” (

4/1/04)

                  Alain Gracio, “Though He Is Mortal and Meek” (

5/12/04)

                  Peter J. Oszmann, “Soldiers” (

11/24/04)

These reflections and observations are far less about singing one poet’s praises than they are about recognition of the literary marvels that have flowed so lovingly through his soul and pen. In an age when nations and individuals routinely exchange murder for murder, when the healing grace of authentic spirituality is usurped by the divisive politics of religious organization, and when broken hearts bleed pain in darkness without the relief of compassion, the voice of an exceptional poet producing exceptional work is not something the world can afford to dismiss.
 

Aberjhani

 © December 2005