This book has collaboration and translation at its heart: between people, words and images, languages, cultures. The poems came first, in Polish. Then came the photographic response to them. Then four translators, MARTA DZIUROSZ, MARIA JASTRZĘBSKA, DANUSIA STOK and ELŻBIETA WÓJCIK-LEESE, took a set of 12 or 13 poems each and translated them into English. All people involved were women: the poet, the photographer, the four translators and the two editors. Together they arrived at 51 Polish poems, 51 English poems and 51 photographs making this collection. They raise themes such as cultural identity and migration, queerness, racism, isolation and family memories.

Anna’s poems make me think of the verse of the Swiss French poet Phillippe Jaccottet. She seems to be interested in analogies of life events, mysteries that are invisible at first instance, slips of tongue, contrasts, things held back, hidden moods and emotions. Just like Anna’s poems, Lisa’s photos capture and arrest details, writings, colours, lights and shadows, as well as textures of the world, they are snapshots, images captured as if by chance on a journey. WIOLETTA GREG