Amnesia Findings

'A fascinating, thoroughly engaging exploration of culture and spirituality, belief and rationality, this book's poems are at once lucid and mysterious, profound and immediate. They evoke the esoteric language of their sources in Jewish lore, whilst being unmistakably modern and contemporary. They signal the development of an exciting new voice in Australian poetry.' Judges' comments, Thomas Shapcott Prize

'Amnesia Findings is an intricately executed portrait of mental pain, and familial and domestic solace. Jacobson's poems howl and sing, at once heartbreaking and also soothing with the beauty of their virtuoso linguistic performances. What a remarkable collection.' Lee Kofman

'Human brokenness and human connectedness, Anna Jacobson lays both bare, puts them in the same breath, same beat, in her soul-unfurling, witty poems.' Maria Tumarkin

'Raw and honest, Jacobson paints language with the indelible strokes of memory and healing.' Leah Kaminsky

'I love this collection of poems. They touch me deeply. I love Anna Jacobson's courage, and her artistry. She ushers the reader into her dream worlds, and into the heart of madness. She retrieves countless fragments of memory that her shrink, as Anna puts it, had sacrificed for her sanity. And in the process, she creates a unity and wholeness out of a fractured life. In so doing, she holds a mirror to many fractured lives. The poet provides comfort, and her poems are studded with revelations and redeeming touches of wicked humour. Anna moves far beyond her inner struggles, and reawakens and retrieves the memories of others. The work is informed by family memories, heirlooms and recipes which have crossed oceans - a wandering Yiddish culture - out of which Anna fashions her own compelling, intimate mythology. Objects are re-animated. Startling images keep the work grounded. Her line drawings, like the poems, are as fine, magical and miraculous as spiders' webs. Working in tandem, they strengthen the webs, while allowing them to remain graceful and delicate. In this, there is both truth and beauty. Healing and celebration. A coherent story, woven from restored memory. Amnesia Findings is a treasure.' Arnold Zable