Jazz Lives Blog Features "God in Her Ruffled Dress"

Check out this wonderful review of my new poetry book by jazz critic, appreciator, liner notes writer, and archivist (and poetry aficionado) Michael Steinman at Jazz Lives. Honored by his take on my work!

The headline (love it) followed by an excerpt:

WITH BOLD DELICACY: “GOD IN HER RUFFLED DRESS,” by LISA B (LISA BERNSTEIN)

"I had a certain skepticism about “jazz poetry,” or “poetry about jazz,” based on a good deal of familiarity with the genre, or should I say, product. It relies on an implied connection — experience and emotion — between poet and reader....

But truly resonant poetry is more than a dropping of famous names, or playing readers as if they were keyboards. Bernstein has understood this, and she avoids familiar tropes, easy associations. To write about Billie Holiday is treacherous because the formulaic is frozen through decades of repetition, but when Bernstein, in “Billie Goes Home,” imagines her saying or thinking, “Growl to me, Mister, / please,” I am charmed and touched by what she has envisioned...“Uptempo with Ella,” simultaneously whimsical and serious — is it dream, short story, or vision, or all three? — takes us into an elevator with Ella for a ride where Ella is “gleaming a blessing.”

But the poems are not all about jazz... And what a breadth of experiences! There is the bright detritus of present and past; Richard III, Whole Foods, apricots, time spent at the computer or in front of "Law and Order," elliptical conversations between lovers... And there is the Body — always the subject too rich to be exhausted by inquiries and exultations: erotic pleasure, menstruation, birth, illness, pain...

Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) is also a well-established jazz singer, more than a handful of compact discs to her credit. So it makes perfect sense that GOD IN HER RUFFLED DRESS is also available as an audiobook..."

Big thanks to Jazz Lives! Worth your subscription for Steinman's consistently engaging voice and insights.