Cold Cuts on Wry by Abby Kenigsberg
What's It About?
A collection of poetry and prose tackling a diverse range of personal experiences and societal foibles.As Abby Kenigsberg tells it, while a friend’s mother lay dying, the mother suddenly brightened up, called her son’s name, and said to him, “Remember, with laughter.”
Perhaps there’s no better description for the work of Kenigsberg herself – words to live by that need not be reserved for one’s deathbed. First it was Shenanigans, her memoir of how she became a successful media watchdog and a more sympathetic wife, mother, and daughter. Always surrounded by witty and strong-minded people, she played off their personas with a generous wit of her own, delivering irreverent descriptions of college professors, corporate bigwigs and her first-person encounters with Dan Rather, Leslie Stahl, Mike Wallace, and Alan King.
Now she brings us her second act – Cold Cuts on Wry, a collection of poetry and prose tackling a diverse range of personal experiences and societal foibles. The individual vignettes are beautifully and poignantly expressed, and unlike later-day Saturday Night Live skits that deliver a punch line then extend the joke for about five minutes too long, Kenigsberg’s points are short and sweet, providing the sock, getting in and out, and swiftly moving to the next with readers still contemplating their previous aha moment.
In Cold Cuts on Wry, no topic is off limits – birds, Cleopatra, moving boxes, Apple Computer, fashion jeans, hospitals, husbands, Challah, fishing, Bloomingdale’s, trees, lawyers, justice, flan, you get the idea. And that’s not to say Kenigsberg “attacks” each of her subjects – more so observes them, studies them, in some cases cherishes them, but all with a writing style sure to engage and enlighten.
Consider:
- She introduces two “girls” – Sarah Toxin and Margarita – who have the power to change your attitude.
- Likening the expression on her dog’s face as he waits to be washed and trimmed at the salon to a father attending a middle-school violin concert.
- Ripping apart the template to create a Petrarchan sonnet.
- The idea that Apple products are really selling are dreams, or stories, or, as the author puts it, iMythology.
- How she makes interesting a journey to find cartons at a grocery store in preparation for a move.
- How she navigates out of being the 98th person in line to get a signed copy of a new book by David Sedaris.
But understand that not all of Kenigsberg’s writing is fun and games. She is a keen observer of the world around us, of family dynamics, of relationships in general, and many of the day-to-day emotions people might take for granted and don’t stop to consider or dissect.
In fact, therein lies the glory of Kenigsberg’s poetry and prose: She forces us to think in ways and on topics we may have ignored, whether poking fun at an object or institution, or helping us understand an attitude or action. At the very least, she beckons us to stop and consider its meaning and ramifications.
“When people laugh, a bond is formed,” she says. “Sharing what frightens you, what you wonder about, or what amuses you builds community.”
“My hope is that my poetry makes you smile, and that smile sheds a small light on any weakness or worries you might have.”
A noble objective. A wonderful delivery.
About the author:
Born in Connecticut, Abby Kenigsberg is a graduate of Wellesley College. She holds a master’s degree from UCLA and an honorary degree from St. Joseph’s College on Long island, New York. Kenigsberg was the founder and executive director of the Long Island Coalition for Fair Broadcasting, Inc. for 22 years. She was an adjunct Professor of Media Arts at Long Island University for 12 years. She is listed in Who’s Who in the East. (1986-87) She was a member of the Long Island Poetry Collective for 7 years. Kenigsberg moved to Austin, Tx in 2014 where she teaches Critical Reading of The New York Times.
