'Work in Progress' finished, explores municipal politics and Jewish, LGBTQ identity

“A Work in Progress: Poems and Prose on Identity, Resistance and Tikkun Olam” by Jacob Nathan Sahner Brier (Butterfly Benefits Press, 2026) is a collection of poetry and short essays exploring the intersections and lived experience of community work, life as a nonbinary person, Jewish identity and religious practices, family life and more. The poems are a mixture of free and rhymed verse, though you won’t find anything as formal as a sonnet here.

The book was released Oct. 6 and publicly celebrated Oct. 11 — National Coming Out Day — at Temple Habonim in Barrington, Rhode Island. Brier, a Jewish civic leader, said that they coordinated the launch with Coming Out Day to “amplify conversations surrounding LGBTQ+ visibility, human dignity, and what it means to build a community where everyone truly belongs.”

The five chapters that guide the collection are Identity and Growth, Governance and Community Action, Violence and Harm, Loss and Legacy, and Ritual and Hope. This is the first poetry collection I’ve ever read that included poems and prose on the workings of local government, including a short essay about the author being unable to help a couple being harassed by a neighbor using antisemitic slurs. That positions of power do not necessarily confer the ability to act is an interesting theme to grapple with and one I haven’t seen much explored in this sort of collection.

There are also pieces that explore personal family griefs and harms — the death of a sibling, being pepper-sprayed as a kid by a shoplifter fleeing the scene. Some poems tackle dark themes like human trafficking, racism and violence. Others touch on more existential topics, like what we leave to our children and how we carry forward our family legacy.

In one essay Brier included a line that stuck with me: “... we never thought to plan for the day after the win.” When so much time is spent fighting, it is worth considering who any of us might be if we win.

Order "A Work in Progress" at aworkofprogress.com/book.