Whatever else is may be, poetry is foremost a witnessing, and D. Dina Friedman is our conscience and guide as she transports us to the border –physically and poetically—so we can better understand the pain and struggle that keeps “the machinery of the world running,” and what drives a person to become so desperate that “he might send his daughter over the bridge alone to face the guards.”  How is it that we have become “people who love each other/hating the people across the river, who love each other.” In deceptively plain-spoken language that reaches deep into what it means to be human, Dina uses her words to sharpen our senses and focus our attention. But if we listen closely, we will also find a necessary courage in “a child’s pair of striped overalls hanging on barbed wires,” or  even in “a makeshift tent/ called school,” where hope hides in every heart “soft as the young cat/stretched luxurious across the bed,” or a “puff / of milkweed riding the wave of the wind.”  Dina’s words burst forth like a “bashful baby suddenly smiling.” She teaches us, with humor, horror, love, and concentration what it means to truly see and listen to those in need.  Here in Sanctuary—Whirling is a beautiful and important book of poetry.  

–Richard Michelson, National Jewish Book Award Winner, Author of Sleeping as Fast as I Can