Out of the Dark: Poems

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Out of the Dark: Poems

By (author): Lillian Boraks-Nemetz

A collection of poetry by a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto.
This collection offers a cycle of poems about the poet who, as a child survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, has had to live with the memories of the Holocaust all her life. The first section describes the evils of suffering and prejudice, of war and destruction, and the loss of loved ones, even the loss of self. “This is a ghetto / where humans live in neglected cages / within a fire that burns sleep out of their eyes.” The second section brings glimmers of light in finding ways to move towards a better, fuller life, as the poet realizes “We must always seek / new ways / of reaching one another / though each of us / is a world unto itself.” The third section offers a tribute to the artists and poets who have come before and who have left behind their gifts for us. It recognizes the connections and love within the family and the ability to live and love. “I run toward you / carrying the glow of marigolds / lighting your path to my love.”

AUTHOR

Lillian Boraks-Nemetz

Lillian Boraks-Nemetz was born in Warsaw, Poland, and is a child survivor of the Holocaust. She escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto and spent the remainder of the war in hiding under a false identity. Boraks-Nemetz graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature. She is an author of an award winning novel The Old Brown Suitcase followed by The Sunflower Diary and the Lenski File, as well as two volumes of poetry Ghost Children and Garden of Steel. She has translated Polish Emigre poetry into English and has also co-compiled the YA anthology of Canadian Holocaust writing, Tapestry of Hope. From 1980-2016, Boraks-Nemetz worked at the University of British Columbia’s Writing Center. She often speaks to students about the consequences of racism, as a member of the Holocaust Center’s Outreach Program. She is a board member of the Janusz Korczak Association of Canada. She lives and works in Vancouver.