Published Work of Rhoda Rabinowitz Green
The following are a selection of Rhoda Green's published writing in print. Click on the magazine's masthead or “read more” at the end of each paragraph to see the entire story in pdf format.
PROSE FICTION
Moon Over Mandalay
A romantic comedy, Moon Over Mandalay is set in the heart of rural mid-Western America during the early seventies. It is a light-hearted battle of the sexes, played out against a backdrop of the just-passed sixties, the pervasive whiff of marijuana and sounds of The Beatles, The Who, the Grateful Dead. About the pursuit of one’s dreams, love and romance, Moon Over Mandalay allows us a deliciously funny, yet forgiving, peek at our human follies.
Published, Busker Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
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ASPECTS OF NATURE
A satirical glimpse of modern society. The setting is a dinner party for eight in the country at the height of a Gothic summer storm. The energy and humour of the story is in its fast paced, stichomythic (cut and thrust) dialogue, and its minimalist texture.
This story placed as a finalist in The Writers' Union of Canada Short Prose Competition, 1994.
Published, The Louisville Review (Louisville, Kentucky, USA)
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WHAT'S GOING ON HERE, ANYWAY?
A rondo-like prose poem, in which narrator Leon laments the death of his wife of fifty years. In the face of death, Shirley, husband Leon, and friend Rhonda, talk of Rhonda's plans to serve brisket ordered in from the deli at an upcoming dinner party. Such talk of the ordinary heightens our sense of the inevitable as well as foreverness.
Published, The Fiddlehead (New Brunswick; Canada), Summer 1996.
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DEAR DOCTOR:
A satiric account in epistolary form of a woman’s experience as a patient in the male dominated medical world.
This story was published in Fireweed (Toronto; Canada), Summer 1994.
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THE DAY OF THE GORGON
Pursuing his endless list-making of those he might call on in times of need; his writing; and sculpting whimsical forms, using strewn stones and natural objects found on the beach by the sea, three seemingly disparate activities, Holocaust survivor, Marek Wronski searches to understand the unfathomable.
Published, Jewish Currents (New York; USA), 1999
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OUT TO LUNCH WITH THE GIRLS
The story of eighty year old Hannah, it presents a view of ageing, family, and the role of women within it. Wife, mother and grandmother, admitting to being "only" seventy-eight, she's at a loss to understand what has gone wrong.
Published, Parchment (Toronto; Canada), 1994-95 issue.
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YOU MAKE YOUR DECISION
A brief Biblical excerpt, a fairy-tale-like first section, a scene of cut-and-thrust dialogue, and a final, major section set in London, England, presents this story of a woman's journey toward self-discovery as she pursues the roles of wife, mother, and musician, told with a liberal dose of humour.
Published, Dandelion (Alberta; Canada), Spring 1994.
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Shayndeleh
An elderly woman who, despite her advancing cognitive degeneration, is still lucid and perceptive enough to grasp her situation, with all the consequent pain — and bittersweet humour — such a dilemma brings.
Published as Inside the Inside Looking Outside, Parchment (Toronto, Canada) 2006-2008 Edition
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THE WIND AT HER BACK
Using the imagistic language of music, this story speaks to the conflict between love and career, commitment and personal choice. Drawn to Ari, charismatic Master Teacher and renowned concert pianist, Rachel confronts her feelings for him, and her own ambitions.
Published, Sistersong (Pittsburgh, Penna; USA), January 1998.
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POETRY
It is Written
An elegy inspired by a psalm in the High Holiday services: On Rosh Hashanah it is written, on Yom Kippur it is sealed: . . . who shall be tranquil and who shall be troubled . . ..
Published, Parchment (Toronto, Canada) 2006-2008 Edition
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The Cherry Picker
The poem turns on the use of the descriptive name, moving from celebration to lament.
Published, Red Claw Press (Toronto, Canada); On the Web, for Crave It: Writers Do Food
anthology;
May 2011
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