Author Ellen Beth Berman likens her spiritual journey to emerging from a dark coal mine with a valuable reward: diamonds. Using this analogy, Berman provides a concrete example of her abstract beliefs. Aligned with this is the concept of the rooster, which may well represent the awakening of said soul, much like a rooster heralds the dawn of a new day. In many cultures the rooster signifies qualities such as hope, new beginnings and resurrection; its crow is the voice of ‘joy’. This interpretation is by no means obvious. The message is, at times, oblique – the reader has some degree of work to do to reach this conclusion.
Organized into a seemingly random collection of chapters, this collection has no immediately discernible structure. Perhaps this is the point. Berman may well be illustrating the episodic manner in which we travel through life, so embroiled in the business of living that we neglect our true spiritual selves. The rooster crows the wake-up call that rouses us from this metaphorical sleep and urges us to take a more meaningful path. While the sequencing of the verse may be a little unwieldy, there are several key messages that will resonate with many. For example, Berman warns of the danger of the ego – which she describes as our ‘earthly master’ – by alluding to the fate of Icarus, whose wax wings melted when he flew too close to the sun. She also uses the ‘stage’ metaphor to clarify this obsession with the self. All too often, Berman seems to suggest, we perceive our lives as a performance for which we require applause or external reward. This mask, of course, hides the truth; it hides the diamond. The idea, it seems, is that human beings need not ‘don a costume’.
Berman draws upon discrete anecdotes to expound her theories. For example, she uses concrete images to exemplify abstract concepts – the breaking chair that represents the crumbling of a person’s being; the sweetness of the chocolate cake that tests our resistance to temptation. In this latter case, she seems to be implying that God is everywhere (almost a kind of Pantheism) and we should embrace His teaching. This didacticism comes to the fore quite early in the book, with a sequence of sentences commencing with imperative verbs: ‘Be…Rejoice…Listen…Take’. The general impression at this point is that of reading a manifesto. She speaks of earthly afflictions such as Parkinson’s Disease, and harrowing atrocities like the Holocaust, perhaps reminding us that we live in a world where spiritual strength is sorely needed. In terms of the verse itself, this is largely free verse with occasional rhyme. And it does not always scan fluently – this, again, may reflect the rocky path of life. The interjections of prose and image may be interpreted as adding variety and flavor – but equally could be a confusing mix for the reader.
Ellen Beth Berman’s THE VOICE OF THE ROOSTER AND THE LESSONS IT TEACHES is something of a religious tract that advocates waking up to what really matters in life. Some readers will value its worthiness; poetry aficionados, however, may well expect more poetic merit.
~Amanda Ellison for IndieReader