Repartings

Repartings is a cyclical poetic response, in voice feral and exacting, to the imagery of the prophetic texts of the Hebrew bible. Joelle Maxx Milman's debut collection of poetry contains two parts, woven together: original poetry, written in response to the weekly portion of prophetic text read aloud in synagogues, alongside linguistically adventurous translations of the prophetic texts themselves. The poetry and translations track the central speaker-poet-prophet as she dips in and out of various biblical landscapes in search of meaningful dialogue with a nonbinary God. Together in cycle, the poems are erotic and devoted, aligned with the Jewish prophetic tradition of care and agony while playing with a decidedly heretical edge of sexuality and political violence. Repartings re-imparts the biblical texts of the Hebrew Bible in service of a reimagined world, one where intimacy with God is demanded as an embodied and deciduous communal inheritance.