For a text-only version of Lisa’s poems, see here.
About Lisa
Lisa V. Comforty is a writer, editor, and documentary filmmaker. Her work addresses issues related to the Holocaust. With her partner Jacky Comforty, she co-produced and co-wrote The Optimists: The Story of the Rescue of the Bulgarian Jews in the Holocaust, which explores the question of how the 50,000 Jews of Bulgaria did not die in World War II even though Jewish communities throughout the rest of Europe were decimated by the genocidal crimes of that era. Their work has won awards from the Berlin International Film Festival, the Jerusalem International Film Festival, and the Chicago International Film Festival. For more of her work, please visit her website: https://comforty.com/.
The first meeting for the 2023–24 Religion, Spirituality, and the Arts program took place October 5, 2023. I originally intended to draw inspiration from the words of Ecclesiastes to build on my earlier work exploring instances of rescue during the Holocaust. I envisioned writing and producing a small multimedia project featuring interviews. Then October 7th happened, and another heartbreaking war exploded. I couldn’t write about rescue—yet, anyway. I could hardly write at all. “A time of war and a time of peace” kept beating like a drum. I tried to begin writing again by starting with small phrases. And those turned into pieces resembling poems. And those turned into a book, It’s a Dove, My Love: Poems for a Time of War.
It will not be surprising to learn that I could not offer any practical solution to the problem of endless war. I could only, in so many words, pray that all of us can come to recognize our common humanity. That’s a start, and it is not a new one. Perhaps I just add my voice to the many voices raised in the hope that this time, something new can be done.
