It was with much pleasure and reverence that I accepted the request by Richard Grove, Publisher of Hidden Brook Press, to write a foreword to Redwing, a provocative jewel of poems written by Marvin Orbach. The book was thoroughly and lovingly compiled by his daughter, Ariella.
As I stepped into the man and his work, the first thing that impressed me was that Orbach, known to be very modest, had never told anyone about his poems: it was his wife, Grabriella, who found them after his passing. Ariella herself said once that her "dad was very humble". That makes Orbach an even greater librarian, book collector, poet and person. His formidable legacy of books and his passionate poetry honorably contribute to the already vast Canadian cultural mosaic.
My usual approach to writing a foreword starts with skimming the work to get into the mood and style of the material. In the case of this book I changed that procedure as soon as I started reading by jotting down notes as I flipped through the pages outlining my first-read impressions. Orbach's book has been divided in the four seasons, in the order of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. As a whole I found the book to be a fine collection of thirty poems whose center is light, sometimes witty critique about social issues, and nature.
The poet embraces nature and the wild world around him in "Silverfish". It is a truly heart-felt reflection. "True Happiness" ends the book as a vibrant, philosophical tour-de- force. Orbach´s return to his playing with time: the yesterday-today- tomorrow labyrinth where he clings to "flashes of light".
He realizes that life brings both happiness and sadness, and seems to have discovered a stopover where he "relaxes". Somehow I modestly tried to explain that idea in a poem of mine: "We must embrace life, it carries a bag of light, a bag of darkness, both... But we must cling onto life". I can feel that in Orbach´s writing, communicated a thousand times better.
You will fly high and low with Orbach´s "blaze-of- light" Redwing. Like the bird, that takes flight or plummets to lightly touch the ground or the water, so does Orbach with his mighty verb and his sweeping descriptions in this pack of flapping poems carefully chosen by Ariella. The direct, sensitive poet has regaled us a world of movement, colors and sounds that we cannot freeze. His words are there waiting for us to open the book's pages so they can flutter and flee to Orbach´s beloved nature where cormorants seem to "hold the answer to the great beyond".
Orbach´s daughter has given us an outstanding compilation of her father's poetry. She put into it her love, insight and endless admiration for a man who chose to have a low profile, yet left for us a huge patrimony that shall not go unnoticed. His collecting and writing hobbies are treasures now.
Don't forget to open the book always following his instructions to Ariella when she would sit and read from his collection: "not to open the volumes too wide". Rise and glide then with the redwing, dear reader, it will be a flight to remember
Miguel Ángel Olivé Iglesias PhD
Associate Professor, University of Holguín, Cuba
President of the Canada Cuba Literary Alliance (Cuban)
