\u201cUnderstanding that each human life matters, and that each culture and creed are all a part of the world\u2019s flowing river. There is greater strength in this belief than hatred and intolerance.\u201d<\/p>\n The book begins in the spring of 2020, when the world was in the throes of COVID-19 and all that it brought \u2013 isolation, fright, shifts in personal and professional behaviour, and, of course, widespread sickness. In the poem \u201cMy Street,\u201d written on March 29, 2020, Boraks confronts these issues:<\/p>\n \u201cI will not wait like the brides \/ I will unlock my door and step outside \/ where the air feels fresh and crisp \/ breathing deeply I will begin my walk \/ towards life.\u201d<\/p>\n Further on, she looks towards her literary influences, one of whom is Adam Mickiewicz, regarded by many as the national poet of Poland, but who also had an impact on the literature of neighbouring countries. In \u201cThe Autumn Muse,\u201d inspired by Mickiewicz, Boraks asks: \u201chas anyone ever written an ode \/ to old age \u2013 when the bird of youth \/ becomes time\u2019s vulture \/ lurking in mid-air \/ its malevolent claws seeking to destroy?\u201d<\/p>\n Within the later sets of poems, there is a poignant tribute to Alex Buckman, who, like Boraks-Nemetz, had been an ardent campaigner for Holocaust education in British Columbia. Buckman passed away in Warsaw in 2023 while on a March of the Living trip, where he served as a mentor to young students. In a tribute titled \u201cIn Memoriam for a Friend,\u201d Boraks writes: \u201cyou chanted your life\u2019s song \/ like the thorn bird \/ which sings till his heart might break \/ you chanted your fear of the dark \/ as you sang to the children \/ to appease their fear \/ as you sang to the students \/ to teach them lessons \/ of those barbaric times \/ when human life was cheap.\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Despite countless social ills, personal struggles and humankind\u2019s propensity for cruelty, Boraks ends the compilation on an upbeat note. For example, her poem \u201cHope\u201d reads: \u201cbut father time in tune with God \/ will move the frozen earth into the sun \/ there \u2013 flooded by the light \/ a new earth will bear fruit \/ a new man woman and child \/ will behold the magic of a spring day.\u201d<\/p>\n Born in Warsaw, Boraks-Nemetz is a child survivor of the Holocaust. She lived in and escaped the Warsaw Ghetto, then hid in Polish villages under a false identity. Her family came to Canada in 1949.<\/p>\n Boraks-Nemetz graduated from St. Margaret\u2019s School in Victoria, going on to study at the University of British Columbia, where she earned a bachelor of arts, then a master\u2019s in comparative literature. Upon earning a certificate in ESL from George Brown College, she taught English, before eventually teaching creative writing at UBC\u2019s Writing Centre, from 1980 until 2015.<\/p>\n Boraks-Nemetz\u2019s previous volumes of poetry are Out of the Dark, Garden of Steel and Ghost Children. She has also penned three award-winning young adult novels: The Old Brown Suitcase, Sunflower Diary and The Lenski File. The Old Brown Suitcase was placed on the recommended reading list for BC schools.<\/p>\n In 2017, Boraks-Nemetz published Mouth of Truth, a novel exploring a family\u2019s past and the trauma of the Holocaust. She has also translated the works of Polish poets Andrzej Busza (Astrologer in the Underground) and Waclaw Iwaniuk (Dark Times).<\/p>\n![\"image](\"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/dec-13-books.13.Hidden-Vision-book-cover.jpg\")
<\/a>In her introduction, composed shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, Boraks writes, \u201cDestruction is the opposite of creation. To survive in this world, in any crisis or situation, we need to strengthen ourselves and each other \u2013 spiritually. We begin by respecting ourselves and others.<\/p>\n<\/a>