An exciting new collaboration between Israeli talents has brought to light three unique poetry books

What have you achieved over the past year? For many of us, the Covid-19 crisis was a time of complete stagnation. Those among us that are more resourceful, saw this period as an opportunity for growth, for the discovery of new forces within them and for the promotion of projects that had long been abandoned. For Smadar Sharett, an Israeli poet and creator who has been working in the field for over 30 years, the past year has been a period full of creativity. Her last three books have been driven, written, and published during the Covid-19 lockdowns and with a fascinating multidisciplinary collaboration, she offers an irresistible glimpse into the world of her experience.

An experience of words and color

As part of the writing process, Sharett joint forces with Raphael Perez, a gifted and revered modern painter in Israel. Perez's paintings accompany Sharett's poems in all three of her recent books and together create an intense and endearing multi-sensory experience that is suitable for children and adults alike. Sharett's ability to weave a fabric of stories in fluent language that touches the most sensitive root of life, creates poetry that speaks to everyone, regardless of age or social background.

This is a City

Her first book in her Covid Trilogy, "This is a City", encircles the life in Tel-Aviv in which she lived for many years, accompanied by Raphael's paintings of scenes in Tel Aviv. These are not mere illustrations, but two separate bodies of work and expression of these artists, finding refuge side by side in this peculiar book. It is a song of praise for small experiences of love, admiration of the nature realm and of mutual understanding that emanate from the book in every brushstroke and letter embedded in paper.

Grandpa Yehuda

There are only a few artists who manage to write a work that is suitable for children and adults alike and weave layers that will speak to each of them. Grandpa Yehuda is without a doubt a creation of this kind. The book depicts one evening where the two granddaughters stay with their grandfather when their parents go out to a movie. The enthusiastic grandpa teaches them Torah and teaches them the cantillation notes of the bible until nightfall. This is a memorial for Sharett's own grandfather, Yehuda Sharett, which was a deeply spiritual musician.

Grabbing life passionately

Her third book with relationships and love, in all their components. This is perhaps one of Sharett's deepest work which bravely confronts with feelings that are nourished by the dark parts of the psyche. It is a bridge of mental lust between frustration and fulfillment, built by the writer's willingness to gaze into the void within and accept it as part of her wholeness.

Now, that the lockdowns are behind us, Sharett offers young writers an exciting experience to be guided throughout the writing process and find their own void to gaze upon, from which the raw power of poetry emerges.