#poemsfrompoland poems on Hello Poetry

RA Apr 2014

This is a white room
with tiny pencil drawings marching
around the walls in childish lines, telling
so many stories. Try
though I may, one thousand of my words
is worth less than one
of these drawings, and so
I think this space
is a place that needs
to be kept safe
inside your heart.

Auschwitz, Poland
Monday, March 25, 2014

Here ends my collection, Poems from Poland, written over an eight day trip through some of Poland's death camps, concentration camps, synagogues, and the like. Thank you so very much to every single person that took the time to read, like, comment, share, or add to one of your collections. It means so much to me.
I hope you enjoyed reading them, or if 'enjoyed' isn't quite the right word, that they made you think or maybe feel.
Thank you,
Rachelle Aviv

#poemsfrompoland

RA Apr 2014

(39) echoes

A dark room filled
with the faces of the dead.
When you start to smile
at the videos of children
hopping across the grass, racing
each other in sacks, your smile
twists itself until
you only learn you are crying
when the salt stings your lips.

Auschwitz, Poland
Monday, March 24, 2014
12:39 PM

from my collection, Poems from Poland

#poemsfrompoland

RA Apr 2014

(38) Real People

Real people
could not have stood
inside these walls, four
to half a square meter.
Real people
could not have lived
inside these walls, four
breathing in unison.
Real people
could not have been
but how could real people
have done this.

Auschwitz, Poland
Monday, March 24, 2014
12:13 PM

from my collection, Poems from Poland

#poemsfrompoland

RA Apr 2014

(37) That Room

Let me tell you
about that room.
That room
is not a passage, that rom
is a dead end, that room
will lead you nowhere.
And in that room
your breath will catch
and your stomach will tremble
and your head will swim
and your heart will beat out rhythms
of fear, until you feel
they must have taken your soule
while you stood in wonder, and hidden it
under the thousands of shoes
that are heaped on your sides.

Auschwitz, Poland
Monday, March 24, 2014
11:45 AM

from my collection, Poems from Poland

#poemsfrompoland

RA Apr 2014

(36)

In a different display, a doll
and children’s clothes, shoes
smaller than your hand, bibs
yellow with age and wear, hats
lovingly knitted for tiny ears. The doll
is missing her head, and it is amazing
how her blond sprawl of curls
is better cared for than the tons
of human hair in the other room.

Auschwitz, Poland
Monday, March 24, 2014
11:38 AM
from my collection, Poems from Poland

#poemsfrompoland

RA Apr 2014

(35)

Thousands of glasses, twisted
like millions of spider legs, delicate
and the lenses that glitter-
hard eyes without a soul. I admit
I winced, instinctively
putting my hands up to my eyes,
for a second feeling the disorientation
and the dizziness, the helplessness
that come nightly with taking out
my contact lenses, before
I wear the glasses again
that accent my eyes, accomplices
aiders and abettors to the expression
of the soul I still have.

Auschwitz, Poland
Monday, March 24, 2014
11:29 AM

from my collection, Poems from Poland

#poemsfrompoland

RA Apr 2014

(34)

The mountain of hair preserved
behind glass, hit you
in the stomach, stole
your breath, until you doubled over, tears
streaming down your face. The mountain
of hair, preserved behind impassive glass
sickened you, your stomach roiling
and twisting in your abdomen, while
you looked on, noticing
how tangled and matted
it all was, how it was piled in uncaring
heaps, as if every single strand
had not been attached to the head
of some woman. Even
the tiny blond braid, hiding quietly
in the middle.

Auschwitz, Poland
Monday, March 24, 2014
11:20 AM

from my collection, Poems from Poland

#poemsfrompoland

RA Apr 2014

(33)

And on the stairs leading up
your foot catches
and once extricated
catches again. Every stair
the same, every step
an effort to lift
your feet, every inch
of the way a journey.
Every stair
indented, marked
the middles pressed down
by thousands of feet
that once were here
and are no more.

Monday, March 24, 2014
11:14 AM
Auschwitz, Poland

From my collection, Poems from Poland

#poemsfrompoland

RA Apr 2014

(32)

The saddest part
is on the last days, when
you realize that your words
don’t come as easily, don’t flow
from you like pain, as
they did earlier. When you realize
you’ve seen so much
you’ve used up your quota
of surprise.

Monday, March 24, 2014
11:08 AM

Auschwitz, Poland

From my collection, Poems from Poland

#poemsfrompoland

RA Apr 2014

(31)

Foolishly enough, you
thought you could run
away from everything, leave
everything behind, until
you found yourself in
Birkenau on your birthday, skies
overcast, and your mind
set upon you.

Sunday, March 23, 2014
12:04 PM
Birkenau, Poland

I spent my Gregorian birthday in Birkenau this year.

From my collection, Poems from Poland

#poemsfrompoland