Notness

This sequence of one hundred sonnets was composed between 1967 and 2013. The title, Notness, is an anagram of the word ’Sonnets’. The word ’Metaphysical’ in the subtitle is, I hope, a pointer to some of the tendencies and intentions in and surrounding the title. The only further key - or, rather, hint - that I think needs to be offered here is that the so-called ’core’ of isness is notness, just as at that of notness is isnesss: a never-ending dance. Others more adept at quieting the buzzing mind will know a good deal more about this than I do. (Richard Berengarten) 'A tremendous piece of work, a rare achievement. Berengarten belongs to the great tradition of Jewish poets that embraces Mandelstam and Celan. These remarkable sonnets are surely destined to endure.' - ANNE STEVENSON 'A metaphysical dancing floor, a choreography of shadows out of the play of light between life and death. A triumph of poetry over the formidable obstacles of time.' - SEBASTIAN BARKER 'These poems stand against the anti-metaphysical prejudice of our age. Each sonnet is like a crystalline vessel in which some rare and precious liquid has been distilled.' - RODERICK MAIN 'An extraordinary collection. Rooted in the Lurianic Kabbalah, Notness confronts the shadow-play of being and nothingness even as it seeks to repair the world.' - PAUL PINES 'Intellectual seriousness is irrigated with wit and sustained with astonishing technical resourcefulness. A remarkable work, mind-opening and intellectually and emotionally challenging.' - CARL SCHMIDT 'These are poems which give contemplation to the very in-being of life, its personal folds of love, birth and death. A genuine triumph.' - A. ROBERT LEE 'From a mind humming with thought, we experience intimations of what lies before or beyond the verbal. And fourteen lines often appear to contain the world.' - PASCHALIS NIKOLAOU 'A remarkable achievement. This is ’Metaphysical poetry’ of the highest order. It deals with the always ramifying and unfathomable mystery of our being.' - MALCOLM GUITE'The energy released by these poems is deposited into the hands of the reader, where, like a valuable metal, it invites and awaits transformation into further moulds and patterns.' - MARIA FILIPPAKOPOULOU 'In these intricately linked sequences, Berengarten demonstrates his unique ability to renew poetic traditions through strategies of integration rather than rejection.' - PAUL SCOTT DERRICK 'These sonnets are astonishing for their range and technical mastery. Wonderful poems.' - HENRY WEINFIELD 'Real life, these poems persuade us, is a string of pebbles, of inexplicable formed encounters on the beach of a space-time continuum which at once alienates us from these shared visions and grants us them.' - CATHERINE PICKSTOCK