Soliloquy at Ninety

By Freddy Frankel

How does a poet, fortunate enough to be writing into his 10th decade, view almost a century of life?

With skill, compassion, irony and humor, Soliloquy at Ninety delivers unforgettable images of a life lived on two continents: from a boyhood in South Africa, through service in World War II, a successful medical career in Boston, and the experience of growing old in the 21st century.

This is a deeply thoughtful and nuanced view of human strengths and frailties; the visionary legacy of an articulate and perceptive poet, seasoned by time, and graced by transformative love and loss.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Apr 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781491762325

Freddy Frankel

Freddy Frankel was born in 1924 and educated in South Africa. He migrated to the United States in 1962. He is the author of Hottentot Venus: Poems of Apartheid, In a Stone’s Hollow, and Wrestling with Angels. In 2003, he won the New England Writers Robert Penn Warren First Award. A retired physician, he now lives with his wife in Boston.

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Copyright © 2015 Freddy Frankel.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

"Cover Art from a quilt by Isabel Frankel Rachlin

My Father’s Dream: In Honor of his 90th birthday

Quilt design inspired by Vikki Pignatelli

Photography by Michael Pellicano

Cover design by Carter Wentworth"

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-6231-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-6232-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015903391

iUniverse rev. date: 4/2/2015

Contents

Acknowledgments

Part One

What Was

When I Was Nine

A Day in Third Grade

My Father When I Was Nine

Abattoir

Appassionata

Rumbula Forest, Latvia, 1941