Customer Reviews:

• "What does an artist do with the personal thoughts, inspirations and observations formed after 40 years as an administrator for a vo-tech school in the public school system? He sets them to verse and wraps them in fantasy through an intriguing expression of spiraling artwork, something he calls Spiroleander. This collection by Herb Mandel is a flight of fancy that provides the reader with plenty to ponder and even more to look at, and leaves you wanting more." - Carol Robidoux

• "Herbert Mandel is a wordsmith and visual artist. He calls the full color art in this chapbook "Spiroleander Illustrations." These colorful creations are a mosaic of everyday moments that enhance his poetry, words and color that work together to alternately soothe and excite. Mandel's work in both mediums embraces movement. For example, in "The Apprentice" the reader's appreciation of the poem is enhanced by the accompanying illustration titled "The Welder":

        I watched the metal-burning apprentice
        in leather gauntlets and protective sleeves.

        Amber sparkles spattered against his
        blue-gray shield.
        Molten metal flowed in a blue-white bead
        joining steel to steel
        A carpet of golden embers sprayed to
        my feet.

        He raised his hood and studied the seam
        chipped at the slag with a rhythmic clang
        then brushed the weld to a silvery sheen,
        he caught my eye
        and grinned.

This excerpt from "Looking-Glass Pond" clearly demonstrates how Mandel creates. Words become colors, colors become visions, both given life on paper:

        I gazed into a looking-glass pond
        mirroring shadowy remnants of Nature's
        autumn blossom,
        an umber spectrum of her fading blooms
        in the soft liquid ripple of warm ochre
        and slate blue.

"Catch a Butterfly" is the title poem. This excerpt communicates the breathless wonder of one small moment typical of Mandel's sensitivity as poet and artist:

        Catch a butterfly by its wings
        feel the fearful tremor it brings
        the agony it transmits
        through fingertips.

In my experience, this work by Herbert Mandel, beautifully reproduced by the publisher, is unique among chapbooks. Mandel pulls from his subconscious these exceptional fragments of life and joyously shares them with readers. His modernistic Spiroleander Illustrations enhance his poetry, and both are pleasing to the eye and spirit." - Laurel Johnson