On Cigarette Papers

by Pam Zinnemann-Hope

On Cigarette Papers is Pam Zinnemann-Hope’s first full length poetry publication and her first book with Ward Wood.After her mother’s death in 1990, Pam finds a tiny pile of cigarette papers with writing pencilled in Russian in her hand. Surely these are recipes? They are the starting point for a journey of discovery, stretching from 1905 to 1995, a story of love and exile, dislocation and survival, and of a daughter’s search for identity, through lands physically and politically remote.Reviews'Um uns mach Dir keine Sorgen’ – the message is one conveying the most terrifying news but with that one line, written on a tiny triangle of toilet paper, lies the unbelievable strength of character and determined resilience that runs like a seam through this extraordinary and compelling collection of poems. ‘Don’t worry about us’.The unbearable poignancy of ‘My Mother Tells’ is one of the intense memories that were never discussed afterwards, leaving a loving daughter dislocated and unable to understand fully until her mother died and left behind a collection of papers and letters. On the fragile cigarette papers of the title were inscribed recipes in Russian; starving women conversing on food and eating, the universal language of hearth and home.The same cigarette papers sent Pam Zinnemann-Hope on a voyage of discovery into the history of her family as they travelled the worst paths of repression and discrimination in 20th century Europe; this painfully honest and finely written collection is the result.' Fiona Waters

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published May 1, 2012