Bonfire of the Verities

Res ipsa loquitorthe thing speaks for itselfas the lawyers say. But does it? Not in Michael Lieberman's new book of poems, Bonfire of the Verities. What speaks here is doubt and the commitment to cast aside the apparent truths we all accumulate. Those verities are what are tossed onto Lieberman's bonfire:It is here I heapthe platitudesI cannot keep.He grounds his struggle precisely:The coordinates of the country of doubtare 29, 45' N / 95, 21' W,which are those of Houston, his adopted city. It is an unusual poet who is willing to pare away belief and accept that truthsreceived or earnedmust be discarded as we face the unknowable mystery. In the end what Lieberman wrests from the void is the recognition that there is no ultimate choice but dissolution:This fire burns in meit cannot set me freeit leaves me ash, not tree.And yet ash is both residue and tree, offering the possibility that dissolution is a kind of redemption.