Losing, Finding is longer than Wanda Barford's previous collections and differs from them in being divided into three distinct sections. 'Sixteen Songs for Michael' is a sequence of elegaic poems for her husband, exploring the grief of parting - through death - after forty-one years of marriage. 'About Silence', the longest section, ranges widely over political, social and Jewish as well as personal themes.
The book concludes with 'From Childhood Tongues', revealing Wanda Barford to be a gifted verse translator from three of the languages she acquired as a child.
The book concludes with 'From Childhood Tongues', revealing Wanda Barford to be a gifted verse translator from three of the languages she acquired as a child.