The Rhino Gate Poems

James Deahl is a partner in Mekler & Deahl, Publishers, and the author
of Under the Watchful Eye: Poetry and Discourse, Poetry Markets for
Canadians, and Mix Six.

George Ellenbogen’s fourth poetry collection addresses themes of
modernity and aging. It also combines standard lyric poems with
text/countertext messages. The book’s title sequence, “The Rhino
Gate,” attempts to explain how to read the poems. Unfortunately, its
main effect

is to confuse rather than enlighten the reader.

Comprehension is further undermined by Ellenbogen’s odd use of
enjambment; for no apparent reason, he often separates nouns from their
modifiers.

It is in its lyric poems that the spirituality of the book emerges. The
poet understands modern life to be less rich than it could be. He also
sees people as being relatively powerless, as being moved more by
circumstance than by any inner philosophy or religious system. In these
poems, people tend to come to terms with their lives instead of creating
them; they are passive rather than active characters in their own
dramas. This theme of passivity is particularly well expressed in the
pieces dealing directly with the poet’s Jewish roots. Their vividness
and poignancy are regrettably missing from the balance of the
collection.