Habry

Helen Degen Cohen was born near Warsaw. When the Germans invaded, the family fled to White Russia, but were incarcerated in the Ghetto by the advancing Germans when the Jews were exported to concentration camps, she was hidden in the Russian countryside and her parents fought for the resistance. This collection of poems describes her experiences before the war, in hiding during the war, and after she emigrated to the United States. Ms. Cohen is a widely admired poet who has won several awards. Lisel Mueller has said: "There is a floating Chagall-like qaulity about many of these poems." Lucia Getsi has called her: "a voice of authority mixed with childlike innocence." And Alicia Ostriker has said: "the leaden material of history is lifted and made to soar by the vitality of the poet's imagination." These are vital living poems that span the author's entire life, from before the war to living and raising a family in the United States. It deals with the strength of individuality and family, loss, and the art of writing. It is some of the strongest poetry being written today.