Sydney-Blog Post #4

The refugees and their misery

Violence is not the answer.

Human rights are being violated on every continent.

I watched helplessly

I surely would have lost my mind.

Don't lose faith in yourself!

Nations to be tortured day and night,

You have betrayed

The race toward death had begun.

(Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017.)

CC Poem Blog Post #4

The Journey

By CC Cooksey

Auschwitz

Ruled by delusion

Veiled by despair

Long forgotten the taste of tears

Madness had infected all of us

Forever

Birkenau

Warning! Danger of death

You are good for the ovens

Save us!

Abandoned by the whole world

I suffer hell in my soul and my flesh

All they could utter was one word: “Evacuation”

Escape

A dance of death

Words and phrases from Night by Elie Weisel

Zoe-Blog Post #4 -Extinguished

 Extinguished

Bent over like trees in a storm,

Shoulders sagging,

Sad eyed angels,

Night was falling rapidly.

Blessed be God’s name,

Children cried for water,

Sweat rolled down my back,

I had no more strength.

Blessed be God’s name,

Wind lashed us like a whip,

We saw a black gallows,

I felt a great void opening.

Blessed be God’s name,

A small red flame,

Covered with snow,

An even darker night.

-Zoe Benitez

Phrases from Night by Elie Wiesel

Henry-Poem/Blog Post 4

Fire,fire

That consumed

my faith,

That burned

my eyes,

That filled

my heart with smoke,

That overwhelmed

my life.

Hope, hope

That loved

me through the journey,

That kept

my head held high,

That kept

me moving,

That did not

Leave me,

That allowed

me not to vanish into the night.

Kat - Poem

Haven

On the horizon, the hellish sun was setting.

The atmosphere was oddly peaceful and reassuring.

I was no longer was afraid.

Shadows around me aroused themselves as if from a deep sleep,

Night had fallen.

The stars were but sparks of immense conflagration,

My wide, dreamy eyes, gazing off into the distance.

Soon, nothing would be left in the sky but extinct stars and unseeing eyes.

Then silence fell again.

There was nothing outside but darkness,

And souls condemned to wander through space until the end of time, seeking redemption, seeking oblivion, without any hope of finding either.

Nathaniel - Blog Post #4

An Escape

- We…

can escape, -

A concert given to the dying.

I saw

A face not unlike a death mask.

An appearance of discipline,

Betrayed.

- For a pittance: -

More dead than alive,

Whose ghostly faces peeked out.

- Silence -

- Clench your teeth and… -

Abandoned by the whole world, he spoke:

- Die -

Luke-Poem

Stay Alive

Ever Since April tenth

The look in the depths of the mirror

Has never left me

I only have one desire

Bread bread and more bread

However we must stay strong

Everyone lives and dies

But we have to

Fight to stay alive

He shuts his eye

Keeps them shut

Hoping to see

Tomorrow's light

I yell against the wind

Praying someone will save me

But the only ones

That had the power

Where the SS

Advancing with giant strides

A trickle of saliva

Was all that we had

Praying for more

Just to stay alive

Blog Post 4 Miranda

Found Poem

10/11/2017

Hope

We breathed in air filled with fire and smoke, and our eyes shone with hope

Wide, dreamy eyes gazing off into the distance

Tears like drops of wax, flowed from his eyes

My soul had been invaded--and devoured--by a black flame

Only now did I feel the full extent of my weakness

Time had slowed down

They did bring peace

Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence

-Miranda

Mimi-Post Blog #4

The Year's That Pass

In 1941

we weep

spoke little

He sang or rather he chanted

like them

that little town in Transylvania

cultured man ask

Why do I live?

Quickly forgotten

1943

1944

My throat was dry and the words were choking me

Thirsty

without foot

They ordered us to run

this terrible fire

Have mercy on me

possessed by some evil spirit

there was nothing outside

Don't waste your tears

fading into a fog

call out

to that

long

wanted

night

Sophia-Blog Post #4

I Feel Nothing

Thus began

the pain

of divine suffering

I had lost my family,

my hope,

my dreams

The joy,

was gone

we were left,

to die

The death

The anger

The loss

I’m silent now

Scared

Crying for my parents

Hoping they’ll come

i’m tired

exhausted

I’m done

I feel

Nothing

Ella May Poem

Night

Night was falling quickly.

Night fell and some twenty people gathered in our backyard.

That night we all went to bed early.

It was to be our last night spent in our house.

Nobody was praying for night to pass quickly.

The night before we had sat down to eat our traditional Friday night meal.

I spent last night going over memories and ideas, I was unable to fall asleep.

The night seemed endless.

Once more,

The last night. The last night at home.

The last night in the ghetto. The last night in the cattle car, and, now, the last night in Buna.

The night had completely passed and yet  It seemed as though an even darker night was waiting for us on the other side.

(Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017.)

PROMPT: POST #4 - FOUND POETRY

Found poems take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as

poems. The literary equivalent of a collage, found poetry is often made from newspaper

articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches, letters, or even other poems  A pure found poem

consists exclusively of outside texts: the words of the poem remain as they were found, with

few additions or omissions. Decisions of form, such as where to break a line, are left to the

poet.

Now that you've gathered myriad words, phrases and images from Night, compose your own

found poem based on a unifying theme or concept.

Sydney Blog Post 3

Looking into the ruins waiting for their next victim.

Eli blog post three

(https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa8536)

Woman and their children are getting of a train. They departed of the train into Auschwitz- Birkenau. This photograph was taken at the end of may 1954. By Bernhardt Walter and Ernst Hofmann as a camp commandant. The jews in the picture came from Carpatho, Ukraine. The source I got this picture from told me who and where the people came from.

Nathaniel - Blog Post #3

Their heavy badges dim the joy of these pedestrians. Sadly, soon they will take on a much harsher burden.

Zoe-Blog Post #3

A small Gypsy girl is eating her ration in the Rivesaltes detention camp in France. The conditions were horrible and many Spanish, Jewish and Gypsy people were forced to stay.  This photo was taken in 1941 or 1942.

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1109839

David Blog Post#3

Hitler listening to the Germans  salute his name.

Kat - Post #3

A happy family portrait of Perla and Felix Nahmani with their three oldest daughters Diamante, Aimee and Reine before WWII changed their lives.

Henry Blog Post #3

Young Steven Natan Rozenburg stands in garden in Lodz, Poland. Photo taken around 1943 after the family was relocated to a newly formed ghetto in Lodz.

Isabel - Blog Post #3

In this picture, a guard beats a prisoner while the other ones watch. To me it’s a very heartbreaking scene, especially when you take into consideration that the others probably want to help, but they’d be punished as well.