Her Birth and Later Years (EPUB) von Irena Klepfisz

CONTENTS • EARLY WORK (1971) • Searching for My Father's Body • The Widow and Daughter • FROM PERIODS OF STRESS (1975) • I • during the war • pows • herr captain • death camp • about my father • perspectives on the second world war • II • conditions • periods of stress • please don't touch me • dinosaurs and larger issues • when the heart fails • it was good • flesh is cold • they're always curious • they did not build wings for them • the fish • III • in between • the house • blending • edges • IV • aesthetic distance • self-dialogues • TWO SISTERS (1978) • Helen and Eva Hesse: An Introduction • Two Sisters: A Monologue • KEEPER OF ACCOUNTS (1982) • I From the Monkey House and Other Cages • Monkey 1 • Monkey 2 • II Different Enclosures • Contexts • Work Sonnets • Work Sonnets • Notes • A Monologue about a Dialogue • A Poem for Judy beginning a new job • III Urban Flowers • Mnemonic Devices: Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, 1981 • Royal Pearl • Lithops • Aesthetics • Winter Light • Oleander • Cactus • Abutilon in Bloom • IV Inhospitable Soil • Glimpses of the Outside • A Place • A Visit • A Place in Time • Mourning • Bashert • These words are dedicated to those who died • These words are dedicated to those who survived • Poland, 1944: My mother is walking down a road • Chicago, 1964: I am walking home alone at midnight • Brooklyn, 1971: I am almost equidistant from two continents • Cherry Plain, 1981: I have become a keeper of accounts • Solitary Acts • A FEW WORDS IN THE MOTHER TONGUE (1983-1990) • I cannot swim • Di rayze aheym/The journey home • 1. Der fentster/The window • 2. Vider a mol/Once again • 3. Zi flit/She flies • 4 A beys-oylem/A cemetery • 5. Kashes/Questions • 6. Zi shemt zihk/She is ashamed • 7. In der fremd/Among strangers • 8. Di tsung/The tongue • 9. Di rayze aheym/The journey home • Etlekhe verter oyf mame-loshn/ A few words in the mother tongue • Fradel Schtok • Der mames shabosim/My Mother's Sabbath Days • '67 Remembered • Warsaw, 1983: Umschlagplatz • East Jerusalem, 1987: Bet Shalom (House of Peace) • HER BIRTH AND LATER YEARS (1990-2021) • Footnotes • March 1939: Warsaw, Poland • Warsaw 1941: The story of her birth • Pesakh: Reynolda Gardens, Winston Salem • 1. Winter • 2. Spring • 3. The Seder Table • Mitsrayim: Goat Dream • Der soyne/The Enemy: An Interview in Gaza • In memory of Razan al-Najjar • Instructions of the dying elder • Dearest Friend: Regarding Esther Frumkin • Millet's Flight of Crows • Five ways to view a drawing • Mourning Cycle • Parsing the question • This House • Liberation of the roses • Trees • wound: a memory • Wind chime • Grief changes and doesn't • Entering the stream • between shadow and night: a treatise on loneliness • And Death Is Always with Us • For Jean Swallow: whom I barely knew • My mother at 99: Looking for home • my mother's loveseat • July 22: Geology • Jamaica Wildlife Preserve: September • The old poet cycle • The old poet reconsiders acting • The old poet tries unsuccessfully to bring/chaos back into her order • The old poet and Orion • The old poet's become tired • The old poet remembers the immigrant girl • Grief: Brunswick Public Library, Maine • Der fremder in der fremd • Glossary and References • Notes • Index of titles • Credits • Acknowledgments