Seeing into the Life of Things: Retrospective on Fifty Years of Jewish-American Poetry and Spiritual Autobiography

A presentation by Rodger Kamenetz (poet, author, and Professor Emeritus of English and Religious Studies at Louisiana State University) 

Join Rodger Kamenetz, author, and Professor Emeritus at Louisiana State University, as he discusses his new publication, Seeing Into the Life of Things: Imagination and the Sacred Encounter (2025), which revisits the whole of his career as a Jewish-American poet and spiritual autobiographer. In this mix of autobiography and exposition, Kamenetz examines the power of images for Jewish practice, delving into images in perception, memories, dreams and prayer. Seeing Into the Life of Things continues an account of the author’s Jewish spiritual development, based on the practice of the traditional Jewish morning blessings, with much of the book set in Kamenetz’s own New Orleans neighborhood of Marigny-Bywater. Centering on this latest book, Kamenetz’s presentation will revisit the whole of his life’s work as a writer, which begins with a question from the Dalai Lama and ends with a practice to enhance the traditional morning Jewish prayer practice.

Best known for The Jew in the Lotus, a poetic account of Jewish-Buddhist dialogue termed by the New York Times a “revered classic,” Kamenetz is also the author of Stalking Elijah (1997), an account of contemporary mystical Jewish masters which won the National Jewish Book Award for Jewish Thought. His History of Last Night’s Dream (2007) begins with a history of dreams and dream interpretation, from the book of Genesis to the rabbinic sages, and was featured on Oprah Winfrey’s Soul Series. Kamenetz is also the founder of Natural Dreamwork, an international group of practitioners who use dreams for spiritual growth. His most recent book of poetry, The Missing Jew: Poems 1976-2022 (2022), along with The Lowercase Jew (2003), constitutes an award-winning body of poetry focused on Jewish experience over the past fifty years.

Moderated by Tulane University’s Joel Dinerstein (Professor of English & Sizeler Family Professor of Judaic Studies at Tulane University), this program offers a rare, firsthand window into the life and work of a distinguished, New Orleans-based Jewish American author and poet.