Poems That Happened: Making Sense of Daily Life

In Poems That Happened: Making Sense of Daily Life, Hanna Zacks invites the reader to share with her personal experiences as well as thoughts on general issues. Hanna "discovered" poetry in her sixties, and she describes her passion and her self-doubt when she started writing poems. Concerns of old age, ambivalence about retirement, declining health, and facing mortality are subjects of several of her poems. She writes tenderly about her love of family and expresses with exuberance her delight in the wonders of nature, especially in the beauty of autumn colors in Upstate New York. Powerful descriptions of the horrors of war and of terror appear in a number of Hanna's poems, while her interest in philosophical problems is manifested in others. People who share her interest in the "big questions" and the mysteries of life will enjoy these thought-provoking poems. Observations and reflections on a wide variety of other topics, a neighbor's wedding, pictures in a children's magazine, trips, and even cell-phones, also find expression in Hanna's work. In this collection of heartfelt poems she tries to make sense of daily life.

Hanna Zacks came to the United States from Israel initially to study philosophy but ended up settling in this country. She received a Ph.D. from Columbia University and after having taught philosophy for several years decided to make a career change. Entering school once again, she obtained a MSW and a Ph.D. in social work from Case Western Reserve University. She has been working as a psychotherapist for over twenty years now. She lives with her husband in Binghamton, New York.