“Thank you to Zvi Sesling for these lyrical poems that express the heartfelt yearning, anguish and desire of a Jew in the twenty-first century. Zvi’s poetry straddles past and future, Israel and America, hope and pain. His faithful reflections and vivid images whisk us away to far-off lands, ancient conflicts and disputed borders, and then he reminds us that those struggles are still ours, here and now, and that we can prevail by our memory.”
~ Rabbi Andrew Vogel, Temple Sinai, Brookline MA
The Lynching of Leo Frank
“With the impassioned hear oh Israel cadence of a rabbi, the wisdom of Solomon, and his own trademark reverent irreverence, Zvi Sesling offers us a whole Haggadah of a rich but often torturous history that calls from the souls of his ancestors. In the poem ‘My Jewish Blood,’ the poet conjures a fierce pride of heritage reminiscent of Langston Hughes in ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers,’ and while the tone and tenor of this powerful and potent collection is one of lament, any bitterness is overshadowed by Sesling’s zealous belief in humanity’s goodness and the great godliness of poetic piety. To paraphrase the old Levy’s bread commercial, ‘You don’t have to be Jewish to love Sesling’s The Lynching of Leo Frank—but it couldn’t hurt.’”
~ Cindy Hochman, editor of First Literary Review-East
“Zvi Sesling is the master of the narrative poem ending with a surprise and wise last line. Wait for it.”
~ Rosie Rosenzweig, A Jewish Mother in Shangri-la