Map of Concentration/Death Camps

The death camps were to the east:
Treblinka Chelmno Sobibor..Majdanek Belzec Auschwitz/Birkenau
their history is our past
a past we wish were past

Adorno asked how there could be any poetry at all after Auschwitz

We have heard it said
there must be nothing but poetry
after Auschwitz

My computer knows how to spell Auschwitz
correctly

We must not leave it to our computers
to spell Auschwitz for us

I think everyday about
what I must remember and
about what I may forget

I cannot forget how to spell

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2009 05:36PM by petersz.

We must not leave it to our computers
to spell Auschwitz for us


We most assuredly must not.

The poetic perspective you've given to one of history's most horrific and depraved eras is most interesting and very effective. Unfortunately, it is necessary more than ever now for us to create new ways to keep the memory of this tragedy alive, lest the lessons be lost. Thank you, Peter.

Joe

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2009 06:42PM by hpesoj.

Thanks for visiting, Joseph. I spent the morning viewing a history of the holocaust. The original copy of this poem, in my journal, was accidentally written in red.

amo,

Peter

I think everyday about
what I must remember and
about what I may forget

I cannot forget how to spell

I love the way you end it , Peter. Very powerful.

"it is necessary more than ever now for us to create new ways to keep the memory of this tragedy alive, lest the lessons be lost."

I second your good intentions, Joe. However, I just wish such a memory also makes us reconsider current holocausts that are presently happening in several parts of the world and put in efforts- at least taking a stance- to stop them.

K.Q.

Khalida,

That was the intention behind the poem 'again' which I wrote a while back...that we not forget the the urge toward genocide did not die with the judgments of Nuremberg, but continued through the killing fields of Cambodia and into contemporary Sudanese Darfur and, most recently, into the closing off from escape from the battle zones of the Gazan people, civilian population, during the the Israeli attack on Gaza we hear on the morning news today.

The mass killing goes on under varied aegis and it must stop or it will stop us all.

Peter

I am confident , Peter, it is always your intetion! I jusy felt the urge to voice myself and echo you!

Salam

Peter and Khalida:

I agree with you both. Human slaughter, no matter who has wielded the sword through history (Romans, Huns, Vikings, Japanese, Nazis, etc. etc.), or who is wielding it today, should never be tolerated or accepted.

Joe

I am pleased to be in your company, always, and to hear what you have to add, so feel no criticism in this instance.

amo,

Peter