Join Lone Star College-CyFair’s upcoming Learning, Inspiration, Friendship and Enrichment (L.I.F.E.) program of Holocaust poetry and remembrance Jan. 23.

This free L.I.F.E. program is one of several events the college is coordinating with the Holocaust Remembrance Association to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is Jan. 27.

Professor Dr. Sharon Bippus, who will lead attendees through poetry readings accompanied by Holocaust art and travel photos, said when people think of poetry, they may think about topics of love or nature or poems they had to memorize in school.

“The idea of Holocaust poetry might be surprising. However, poetry and other forms of expressive art can be therapeutic,” she said.

Dr. Bippus shared this statement from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. “… many survivors and their descendants have used poetry to effectively distill the terror and dread of the Holocaust into words. For some writers, the emotional and personal nature of the form makes poetry the ideal medium in which to express ideas and sentiments that otherwise could not be adequately rendered through art. In short, poetry allows these writers to express the inexpressible.”

“One way to honor the victims of this tragedy is by bearing witness to their words so that we do not forget,” said Dr. Bippus.

Her 10 a.m. “Poetry of the Holocaust: Bearing Witness through the Arts” L.I.F.E program in the library meeting room, LRNC Room 131, will feature poetry from “I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children’s Drawings and Poems from the Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944” and Saul Balagura’s “Plowing Stones: Poems of the Holocaust” with additional poems from various writers.

For information on other LSC-CyFair holocaust remembrance events, including two book clubs and a book and film display, and resources in Houston go to cflib.info/holocaustremembrance or email Regina.E.Vitolo@LoneStar.edu.

For spring L.I.F.E. program information, go to Cflib.info/life or email the L.I.F.E. program coordinator at Rachel.Hugenberg@LoneStar.edu.