"Against a Barren Sky," a collection of searing, lyrical poems by South African-born poet and actress Evelyn Frank, charts a journey of exile-- from self, from homeland, even childhood.

A stage and screen performer during the height of the Apartheid regime, Ms. Frank has been shaped by the human casualties she witnessed there, and by the vicissitudes of life as a lonely child in an emotionally remote immigrant family. Her imagery is as fresh as if just lived, yet seasoned with the rewards of lifelong reflection.

Drawing richly from the realm of Nature, and from exotic details of a...