1 Ždala is a tiny village located on the Northern border of Croatia; ‘Lullaby for Martin’ (page 48) is a translation of an imaginary Croatian lullaby. Martin (Miter) was my grandmother's twin brother, just a little boy when he died after accidentally setting himself on fire while playing with matches in a corn field. Although there are no living relatives left in Ždala, the remaining villagers still tend Martin’s grave.
2 ‘The Foyer of Formal Feeling’ (page 61) was inspired by Emily Dickinson’s beautiful little poem #341, which begins:
After great pain, a formal feeling comes—
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like tombs—
3 Some pregnant women develop a rare condition called pica, which is a compulsion to eat substances such as chalk, coal, toothpaste, burnt matches, dirt and clay. ‘Little Pica’ (page 66) refers to this condition. Although many theories have been put forward to explain this strange habit, none have been widely accepted.