To read The Poetry of Yehuda Amichai, an ample new selection edited by Robert Alter, is to leaf through the calendar of a sensibility: in this bright book of life, he writes about war and love, about his mother and father, about his children and his neighbors, about loving the Jews and despairing of the Jews, about shopping for groceries in Jerusalem and the politics of Jerusalem, about sex and about God...the prevailing tone—more than a tone, it is a way of being in the world—is direct, open, simple, hospitable, sensuous, witty.
Bookended by a brief but illuminating introduction and notes that contextualize allusions that might otherwise be lost on the English reader, the book is impressive in its scope while allowing for direct access to the poems.
