Artwork by Cynthia Chapman
Lindsay Soberano Wilson
Poet, Teacher, Editor, Memoirist and Essayist
Casa de mi Corazón: A Travel Journal of Poetry and Memoir
(Poetica Publishing)
A Hybrid Journal of Poetry and Memoir that explores how being a traveler shaped
a Jewish Canadian woman’s sense of community, identity, and home.
“This travel journal explores how I identify with my culture, history, traditions, and roots.”
-Lindsay Soberano Wilson
With life moving at a slower pace and travel coming to a halt due to the pandemic, Lindsay Soberano-Wilson crafted a hybrid journal of poetry and memoir about how her sense of community, identity, and home was shaped by her past travels. Casa de mi Corazón: A Travel Journal of Poetry and Memoir (Poetica Publishing) is the story of a Canadian woman on an inner and outer journey to find a home. As the granddaughter of Spanish Moroccan immigrants and Romanian Holocaust survivors, she travels to Israel and Europe (1997-2005) to explore her roots. She navigates landscapes of the past and present to consider relationships with the Diaspora, Israel, the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, terrorism, and Zionism. By confronting history, she heals intergenerational trauma and dispels the wandering Jew motif by discovering home is where the heart is. Inevitably, home is rooted in her rich Moroccan Sephardic culture (Jews from Spain and Portugal), concluding the memoir with a bittersweet eulogy to her late grandfather, Marcos Soberano.
The chapbook is dedicated
to Kimelman’s memory
and to all victims of terror.
The chapbook is dedicated
to Kimelman’s memory
and to all victims of terror.
Excerpt from:
Kaleidoscopic Views of Toronto and Israel:
A Travel Memoir.
Excerpt from:
Kaleidoscopic Views of Toronto and Israel:
A Travel Memoir.
The desert changed as swiftly as Israel’s political climate. The desert also changed as swiftly as my viewpoint — almost like looking through a kaleidoscope. It transformed from ugly to beautiful and from beautiful to ugly right before my eyes. Some days I looked at her in disgust: the wind howled and made the windows shake. If I opened the window, hot air and mucky desert dust would blow in. While I was in Israel I could not help but realize that even the views I hold of her were surely destined to change as swiftly as the weather. Because when I looked back at the limited perspective I used to have of Israel, I knew that this time was not any different. There was still so much to learn. But, what I did know was that for a 25-year-old, I had discovered a lot. I know that nothing is black and white. I just hope that others can adopt this technique when passing judgment on Israel because too many people judge her before taking the time to get to know her.
The concluding poem, "Tikkun Olam" (a Jewish philosophy that the world can be healed through social justice), is a meditation on how healing the self is a microcosm of healing the world.
The concluding poem, "Tikkun Olam" (a Jewish philosophy that the world can be healed through social justice), is a meditation on how healing the self is a microcosm of healing the world.
Excerpt:
“Sometimes you lock your heart inside a dank passage
you forgot you had and then you stumble upon it
~ a dusty old book ~
at once you’re hooked
to a long-forgotten oath
Is this what it means to be woke?
from a dream
a whimsical dream
like a shell of laborious protection
I was sleeping in between”
The poem "Tikkun Olam" was published
by Poetica Magazine, April 2021
Acknowledgment
Acknowledgment
Some of the poems and prose
in this collection have previously
been published in the following anthologies
and magazines, whose publishers
and editors I thank. On some occasions,
poems have been further revised,
since their original publication:
The Canadian Jewish News
“The Western Wall”
Gam Yachad: A Youth Response
to the Crisis in Israel:
“Talking in Flags”
“Silent Thieves”
“Dear Israel”
Mizmor L’David Anthology
“The Streets of Munich”
Poetica Magazine
“Tikkun Olam”
Running with Scissors
“Human Kind”
Yalla: A Reflection on the Middle East
“Zionism”
“One”
Yalla: A Youth Response
to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
“My Jewish Identity and Sense of Community"
Purchase Casa de mi Corazon: A Travel Journal of Poetry and Memoir
Purchase Casa de mi Corazon: A Travel Journal of Poetry and Memoir
55 Pages / 6" x 9" / Perfect Bind
Full-Color Cover
ISBN#: 978-1-942051-36-7
Printed in the United States of America
Book Publisher
www.PoeticaPublishing.com
Purchase Information
Signed Print Edition: $16.95 + $3.99 shipping
55 Pages / 6" x 9" / Perfect Bind
Full-Color Cover
ISBN#: 978-1-942051-36-7
Printed in the United States of America
www.PoeticaPublishing.com
Purchase Information
Signed Print Edition: $16.95 + $3.99 shipping
Hoods of Motherhood: A Collection of Poems
(Prolific Pulse Press LLC.)
A Jewish Canadian granddaughter of Romanian Holocaust survivors and
Spanish Moroccan immigrants compiles
a bittersweet portrayal about becoming a mother.
~ A Book For Anyone and Everyone Who Ever Had To Learn
To Love Themselves The Way They Love Others. ~
Hoods of Motherhood: A Collection of Poems
(Prolific Pulse Press LLC.)
A Jewish Canadian granddaughter of Romanian Holocaust survivors and
Spanish Moroccan immigrants compiles
a bittersweet portrayal about becoming a mother.
~ A Book For Anyone and Everyone Who Ever Had To Learn
To Love Themselves The Way They Love Others. ~
How do we reconcile the outdated notions of being a selfless matriarch with a modern-day understanding that being a mom is about learning to give back to yourself in order to give to others?
How do we learn to accept what it is we wish to hold from our matriarchs and yet also release to become empowered mothers with our own wants, needs, and values?
In Hoods of Motherhood: A Collection of Poems, Lindsay Soberano Wilson, a first-generation Jewish Canadian granddaughter of Romanian Holocaust survivors and Spanish Moroccan immigrants, compiles a bittersweet portrayal of becoming a mother.
From the highs and lows of recurrent miscarriages to contending with c-section shame, to larger issues such as intergenerational trauma, and everyday issues like breastfeeding, Soberano-Wilson's first full book of poetry, is relatable, lyrical, and confessional with evocative imagery, allusions, wordplay, rhyme, and rhythm.
How do we reconcile the outdated notions of being a selfless matriarch with a modern-day understanding that being a mom is about learning to give back to yourself in order to give to others?
How do we learn to accept what it is we wish to hold from our matriarchs and yet also release to become empowered mothers with our own wants, needs, and values?
In Hoods of Motherhood: A Collection of Poems, Lindsay Soberano Wilson, a first-generation Jewish Canadian granddaughter of Romanian Holocaust survivors and Spanish Moroccan immigrants, compiles a bittersweet portrayal of becoming a mother.
From the highs and lows of recurrent miscarriages to contending with c-section shame, to larger issues such as intergenerational trauma, and everyday issues like breastfeeding, Soberano-Wilson's first full book of poetry, is relatable, lyrical, and confessional with evocative imagery, allusions, wordplay, rhyme, and rhythm.
Editorial Reviews
"This is a powerful collection about the challenges of motherhood. Readers will be drawn equally to the relatability of the themes and the impressive wordplay. Fuelled by a passion, each poem deftly explores the polarizing nature of parenthood with a jaunty writing style that is as explosive as poignant. Whether the stereotype challenging "Down With Cool Girl" or the lyrical "Our Sanctuary", this collection is consistently engaging and enlightening."
Scott Carter author of Blind Luck and Barrett Fuller's Secret
"The at once soft and brash reality of motherhood is paired with the beauty and nostalgia of mothering in Hoods of Motherhood by Lindsay Soberano Wilson. The poet's truthful treatise on both the resilience and challenges and joy and humor of motherhood will be familiar to anyone who has been a mother or had a mother. Soberano Wilson masterfully captures the dance we mothers create as we find balance between being mothers and self-flourishing. While the poems are rooted in the experience of motherhood, fierce and tender, they catalyze the ancestral healing of past, present, and future generations. Hoods of Motherhood earns a permanent place on my bookshelf."
Aimée Brown Gramblin, Writer & Poet
"Lindsay Soberano Wilson's "Hoods of Motherhood" is a collection of deeply personal and introspective poems that offer a lyrical and evocative exploration of the themes related to the experience of motherhood, including personal history and self-care. In her poetry, Wilson contemplates the challenges of raising a child while reflecting on the impact of her family's history and trauma, including the Holocaust and the experiences of its survivors. Through her writing, Wilson engages in a healing ritual, using poetry to cleanse herself of these experiences and find solace and understanding. Her evocative language and poignant imagery invite readers to immerse themselves in the emotional landscape of motherhood, where the mundane details of daily life blend with the weight of historical memory, creating a rich and textured tapestry of human experience."
Michal Mahgerefteh, Managing Editor, Poetica Publishing
"This lyrical collection buzzes with energy, beautiful imagery, and memorable ruminations on everything from parenthood to art to our natural world. Soberano-Wilson is definitely a poet to watch."
David Silverberg, founder and former artistic director of Toronto Poetry Slam, author of As Close to the Edge Without Going Over (ChiZine Books)