THE KINDNESS OF WATER is a braided river of poetry fed by many tributaries.  Tender, intimate reflections on the loss of parents--through sudden tragedy or slow decay--mix with new readings of themes from classical mythology and the re-imagining of folk tales.  There are cormorants, goldfinches, wild dogs in Africa and ghost moths; glimpsed whales and lost wedding rings; Guy Fawkes and Harry Houdini. 
 
Through them all runs a certain sense of longing and disorientation; the perennial migrant experience, suspended between embracing a new world and regretting the world that has been lost.  But there is no trace of self-pity or self-indulgence in these poems.  This is the work of a poet who has mastered her craft: Helen combines emotional maturity and a sophisticated intelligence with formidable command of technique to extract the universal from the particular, and insights into the enduring contradictions of the human condition from fleeting moments.  The result is a book that demands to be read and re-read.