Translated by Merle L. Bachman

Bilingual English/Yiddish text

Step into the vivid, unsettled, and sometimes lonely life of the poet Rosa Nevadoska. With a strong foundation in Jewish and Russian education, her deep intellectual hunger pulled her from her native Bialystok toward studies in Ghent, Brussels, Berlin, and Paris. Ultimately, during the time between the wars, she immigrated to the United States.

Nevadovska's first publications were in Russian. Then came her Yiddish works. Here, in So Many Warm Words, in English translation as well as the original Yiddish, you can see the world through her eyes, in poignant, at times heartbreaking, images. Walk with her through indelible scenes of quiet despair. Share her wonder at the mysteries of night and silence.

Nevadoska writes, "No thing is silent./ Everything possesses a voice." The immediacy of these poems will transport you as she shares the voices of city, mountain and sea; of joy, sorrow and yearning.