May Day thoughts...

It's May Day.
I'm longing to be back in Peru.
It's worldwide Remembrance day of the Holocaust.
I feel sick and sad and stunned, and numbed.
So many lives lost.
My Jewish father ran away from Europe. He found himself in Dublin, changed his name, and died his hair blond. And before I was born , like a puff of smoke, he ceased to exist.

I have a Jewish retreat guest in my house for five days.
I've found help for the screenplay. His name is Charlie. He's Jewish.

So many swirling thoughts and strange feelings today, and then, Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels. A book which uses language in a way that stretches the brain like a piece of elastic, enthralls the soul, and lances the heart.
'The most important book I have read for forty years,' comments John Berger, no less.
It's about the 'after effects', the after life of a young Jewish boy rescued from Poland by a scholarly and kind Greek bachelor archaeologist. They flee to Greece, then emigrate to Canada. The seven year old has witnessed the killing of his parents, and disappearance of his musical sister. The disappearance of his beloved sister haunts him. Sounds very grim but the story is exquisitely laced with extraordinary images, ideas, and wisdom. A friend lent me the book. I think you'll enjoy it she said. It was John Berger's endorsement that grabbed my attention.

Here area a few lines (from it) which glued themselves to my psyche:

'The best teacher lodges an intent not in the mind but in the heart.'
'...I tried to embroider darkness...'
'... write to save yourself and someday you'll write because you've been saved...'
'... our relation to the dead continues to change because we continue to love them...'
'... what a gift you had for making one feel clear-clean...'
'... when we say we are looking for a spiritual adviser- we're really looking for somebody to tell us what to do with our bodies...'
'... we forget to learn from pleasure as well as pain...'
'... is there a man who will slowly undress my spirit...'