This new collection of poems Slender Reeds follows in the spirit of her first book How Memories Insist in which the author Mirna Hirschl shared an intimate, evocative memoir in poetry of her remarkable life. As compelling and significant memories continue to insist, Hirschl responds to them in this new volume that presents and bears witness to those members of her family who perished, including those who miraculously endured and survived, the horrors of World War Two in Croatia.

These personal histories are told in moving portraits of her family members through the powerful language of her poetry. The book is populated and accompanied by a keen and poignant procession in ten chapters of precise, imaginative depictions of people and places, art and history, nature and mythology that take us through generations of human experiences and the wonders of the world that have touched the author's life deeply.

She brings us there in no uncertain terms. Just as memories insist, so does Hirschl's poetry insist-that we take notice, consider and contemplate this varied and complex human life of ours with its tragedy and astonishing beauty.

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