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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Now I knit myself back into a human.
It’s hard work relearning the steps –
slip-stitch,drop-stitch, pick-up stitch, loop.
I get into a rhythm.The pattern is complex –
I drop a few stitches.
The holes form gaps in my memory.
'Knitting visions and memories, Anna Jacobson’s collection traces the skeins of lost histories and the spaces of dropped stitches. Exquisite and whimsical, these poems bear witness to the broken and healed. Gentle but robust, these are poems of personal resilience, framed by explorations of Jewish culture and family and fuelled by a boundless and exhilarating imaginativeness.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Notes
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Dedication: For Mum, Dad and my brother, Alan.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Elese Dowden Reviews Amnesia Findings
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Rabbit , no. 34 2022;
— Review of Amnesia Findings 2019 selected work poetry -
Diaspora Memory-Objects
2021
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue , October no. 63 2021; 'Objects are not just ‘objects’ but are connected to people and memory. My paper asks: how can objects help authors write from diverse experiences? I answer this question through a diasporic lens. Objects of ritual have strong importance in Judaism and cultural objects are often passed down throughout the generations. I analyse examples from writers, theorists, and curators, including Mark Baker and his memoir Thirty Days (2017); object theorist Bill Brown; Mireille Juchau and her essay ‘The Most Holy Object in the House’; postmemory theorists Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer; curator Alla Sokolova; Marie Kondo and her use of the Japanese term ‘mono no aware’ (the pathos of things), and my own poetry collection Amnesia Findings (2019). Through this research, I arrive at a closer understanding of how objects can help writers respond to complex and hybrid experiences using memory-objects, and by writing through Things.' (Publication abstract) -
[Review] Amnesia Findings
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: StylusLit , March no. 7 2020;
— Review of Amnesia Findings 2019 selected work poetry'Anna Jacobson’s intriguing collection Amnesia Findings won the Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize in 2018. In this verse, incorporates many skeins of fine silk like a brocade as the poet deftly handles the varied subject matter of mental illness, family, and Jewish faith and culture. She takes as her muse the concept of passing: passing away, the Passover, and memories of the past. Here are motifs of knitting and needlework, uncovering things buried, and musical expression. Innovative in subject matter and imagery, this collection of poetry pulses with the sensations of a troubled yet brilliant mind. Jacobson maps dreamscapes and pins emotions to corkboard like a nineteenth-century explorer-cum-naturalist seeking the meaning of existence.' (Introduction)
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Homegrown Poets Look Back, Within
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 7 December 2019; (p. 26)
— Review of Catching the Light 2019 selected work poetry ; Amnesia Findings 2019 selected work poetry ; The Lowlands of Moyne 2017 single work poetry ; Child in the Wings 2019 selected work poetry
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Homegrown Poets Look Back, Within
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 7 December 2019; (p. 26)
— Review of Catching the Light 2019 selected work poetry ; Amnesia Findings 2019 selected work poetry ; The Lowlands of Moyne 2017 single work poetry ; Child in the Wings 2019 selected work poetry -
[Review] Amnesia Findings
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: StylusLit , March no. 7 2020;
— Review of Amnesia Findings 2019 selected work poetry'Anna Jacobson’s intriguing collection Amnesia Findings won the Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize in 2018. In this verse, incorporates many skeins of fine silk like a brocade as the poet deftly handles the varied subject matter of mental illness, family, and Jewish faith and culture. She takes as her muse the concept of passing: passing away, the Passover, and memories of the past. Here are motifs of knitting and needlework, uncovering things buried, and musical expression. Innovative in subject matter and imagery, this collection of poetry pulses with the sensations of a troubled yet brilliant mind. Jacobson maps dreamscapes and pins emotions to corkboard like a nineteenth-century explorer-cum-naturalist seeking the meaning of existence.' (Introduction)
-
Elese Dowden Reviews Amnesia Findings
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Rabbit , no. 34 2022;
— Review of Amnesia Findings 2019 selected work poetry -
Diaspora Memory-Objects
2021
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue , October no. 63 2021; 'Objects are not just ‘objects’ but are connected to people and memory. My paper asks: how can objects help authors write from diverse experiences? I answer this question through a diasporic lens. Objects of ritual have strong importance in Judaism and cultural objects are often passed down throughout the generations. I analyse examples from writers, theorists, and curators, including Mark Baker and his memoir Thirty Days (2017); object theorist Bill Brown; Mireille Juchau and her essay ‘The Most Holy Object in the House’; postmemory theorists Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer; curator Alla Sokolova; Marie Kondo and her use of the Japanese term ‘mono no aware’ (the pathos of things), and my own poetry collection Amnesia Findings (2019). Through this research, I arrive at a closer understanding of how objects can help writers respond to complex and hybrid experiences using memory-objects, and by writing through Things.' (Publication abstract)
