#ww2
The smoke filled the room
Overpowering the smell of gin
As the lights flashed to the stage
Begging silently for your attention
And you can't look away, why would you?
The troubles that weigh on your shoulder aren't here
The things here are beautiful! don't you think?
The gin washes away the sin
The smoke is like a cloak
The rhythm of tapping feet is so much better than the stomping out there
Isn't it?
The Kit Kat Klub brings out the best
Better then the outside
Where the frost is everywhere no warmth
Food is cold and rotting
But who needs food when you have gin!?
Who needs fire when you have lust!?
The world outside is crumbling but who cares!?
We have NO troubles here
Because if it doesn't go against us why should we care?
The more gin and smokes that are gulped and smoked
Only makes it harder to see
Doesn't mean that it isn't there
If you can't see the killer you're still afraid aren't you?
If there's still people in the streets others are still harmed, ja?
And soon people around us disappear
And others are in their place
No more warm people
Now it's an unnerving cold
The sound of synchronized dancing doesn't seem different from the sound of marching
As you look through the smoke, it covers the bands on their arms
But the smell of the cabaret doesn't cover the smell of rotting
It doesn't cover the smell of
Gunpowder and gas on them
Their boots track the dirt, a grime of hundreds
Of weeping, starving souls
As hundreds still drink to take off the edge
While others stare off the edge, down to the piles of bottles and ashes
The smoke isn't from cigarettes but from buildings people don't come out of
When the curtain falls and the Kit Kat Klub ends
Six Million Jews Are Dead.
May 19
May 19, 2026 at 12:59 AM UTC
They stood not in the trenches deep,
nor charged across the wire—
but on the rise, with eyes to heaven,
they held the line with fire.
The guns were cold, then roared to life,
as sirens split the air—
the Luftwaffe came screaming down,
with vengeance in its glare.
Binoculars caught wings in motion,
a shadow crossed the sun—
and every man at post was ready,
to meet what must be done.
The ground below was thick with brothers,
advancing through the mud—
and overhead, the gunners laboured
to shield them with their blood.
A tracer danced, a shell exploded,
a bomber reeled and fell—
the sky became a battleground,
a thunderous carousel.
They did not march, they did not rally,
no medals pinned that day—
but in the smoke and shattered silence,
they kept the death at bay.
Only the brave stand on the hill with quiet honour,
where steel met sky and flame—
for those who fought with upward fury,
and never sought acclaim.
Feb 7
Feb 7, 2026 at 7:02 AM UTC
That would have been it
but the bullet whizzed past
your head like a missed
invitation with death and co.
Some weren't so lucky
if luck it was
or maybe some god
had other plans for you
and not be wasted
on some foreign field.
You lit a cigarette
not easy with a shaking hand
and unsure if you'd filled
your pants or sweat
your skin off
to a deep dampness.
Her photograph
was in the pocket
near to your thumping heart.
That was a close thing
and you could still hear
that bullet passing by
and saw some other
fall dead
from the corner
of your shook up eye.
Jun 2, 2025
Jun 2, 2025 at 11:56 AM UTC
#•###•
•the•message•is•so•phantom•
•strangled•
•during•the•third•act•
•illuminated•
•letters•are•the•ciphertext•
•and•they•glow•
•in•your•eyes•
•Bletchley•Park•
•Turing•
•worked•it•out•with•
•Delilah•
•they•killed•for•less•
•died•for•even•more•
•###•
May 30, 2025
May 30, 2025 at 3:10 PM UTC
A handful of soldiers
lay frozen in the snow,
no longer available
for the winter slaughter,
unable to hear
the orders given.
One lay face down
as if he slept,
another lay on his back
eyes opened
as if he watched
the fall of snow
which drifted down
upon his face,
like some lost pilgrim
awaiting grace.
May 30, 2025
May 30, 2025 at 4:20 AM UTC
Meisel, Hoene,
****** Alexander,
Klobe, Juppe,
Henderson, Crow,
Albrecht, IDA Maragaretha,
Alfedelt, Johannes,
Wilhelm, Holzworth...
Aug 27, 2024
Aug 27, 2024 at 9:45 PM UTC
Separating us- snow and land
Death in every step
Sing me a song
About your face and your smile
Everything around me reminds me of you
Every step whispers your name
Your face, your smile
I don’t want anyone to hear
How broken my voice is
So sing me a song
About your face and your smile
You are a million miles away
It is hard for me to get to you
Death in one more step
So when I die
Sing me a song about your face and your smile
Because of you
I lie warm in a cold bunker
Because of our undying love
Sep 3, 2023
Sep 3, 2023 at 4:39 PM UTC
old bayonet--
I wonder if one touched
my grandfather's body
Jun 30, 2022
Jun 30, 2022 at 2:48 PM UTC
My dearest Sammy,
The Mix Master came
Easter, Sunday
And we have not had time
To more than read
The literature
Put it together
And gloat
Oh
So beautiful
Is the Mix Master
So beautiful
We are very happy
To have it here
Bless you Sammy
Madame Roux said
oui
Il est si gentil
Et en effet
He is dear little
Sammy
Easter morning
What a spring
Lovely
as I have never seen anything
Lovely
Alice is all
Smiles
and murmurs in her dreams
‘Mix Master’
X
Gertrude
Sep 7, 2021
Sep 7, 2021 at 12:24 PM UTC
we went out to the desert
my young daughter and I
looking for the pilots
crash site shot down in a dogfight
over this strange landscape
we found the memorial
to their sadly shortened lives
and my daughter who had
collected shells from the beach
to take home
placed them as offerings
tears welled in my eyes
and I thanked them for their
sacrifice and this precious
moment in my life
Aug 19, 2021
Aug 19, 2021 at 1:07 PM UTC
Red letter days
and friendly fire.
Will I ever go home?
Your voice over
the airwaves soothes.
But the things you say
cut like teeth,
sharp and vile.
You visit the hospitals,
shake down the morgues.
The batting of your eyelashes,
a ruse to your construction:
You're a steam shovel, girl.
Digging for Nazis
at the center of the Earth.
Oct 17, 2020
Oct 17, 2020 at 4:23 PM UTC
Dreams tell
Another about
A persons past
For example my father
Was according to a dream
Was a mad scientist
Who cheated on his wife with his subjects
How the horrors the dreams can reavel
About other people
Or yourself
Sep 30, 2020
Sep 30, 2020 at 9:59 AM UTC
Let me introduce myself
I'm Robert K. Wesson,
Sgt. Retired
I like to say the K was for killer,
But, in fact it was for Knowlton
I have no idea why,
Nobody in our family named that, as far as I know.
Anyway, that's out of the way.
35 years served. Can't give away anymore information than that, it's a national secret. I can say, I can cook a mean chipped beef for 1100 men though.
I served in WWII, lost a lot of friends. I'm 97 years young now, as they like to say. I don't, I gave up counting years ago when I lost my wife, but, folks round here like to put on a show every year I get closer to 100. They wheel a cake into me, have me blow out the candles and then I head down stairs to the commissary for a beer. A light beer mind you, but, still a beer. Anything harder messes with my meds.
Personally, I think they give me the beer to shut me up, puts me to sleep in no time. I'm on pills for blood pressure, diabetes, headaches, one to make me *** one to make me **** Won't get into those now, rather unsavory things to chat about.
As I said, I served in the big one, came back relatively unscathed. No physical issues that I know of, but, mentally, I saw things no one should. Things that stay with you for ever. I wasn't front line per se, but, I can't tell you what I did, it's a national secret. I can say though, 100 loaves of bread, I can do that....no trouble at all.
Around here, I'm Grampa Bob, or Gramps, depending on who is working. Not many from my generation here now. Oh, here? I'm at a military home outside of Kingston. Some days, it's great, others, I wished I was gone years back. I wish I was gone in the war sometimes, but, then I would never have met my wife and had the fantastic life I did have. No kids, but, we made do.
Met her once I came home. But, that's another story. Wished I'd gone first though, tough watching her pass, cowardly to say, but, it was rough. I came in here after that. Was having trouble sleeping, concentrating, and generally couldn't take care of myself.
Seems strange a man who could do what I could, I can't tell you though, National Secret and all. But I could field strip my weapon in the dark in a windstorm, and make stew for 1100 men no sweat.
Well, I came here, before I burned out the house. The local fire department got tired of coming out I guess, made a few calls, and here I be. Sold the house, made enough to do ok here, what with my pension and all too.
I'm not one for reading too much, eyes aren't the best anymore, and my hands, well the arthritis flares up and I can barely move some days. There's a computer in the common area we can use, but, I know all I need to know, and some things I wished I didn't.
Never got used to television, especially after it switched to colour. I didn't get the jokes, and the cop shows? I had the murderer figured out in the first ten minutes, why couldn't they figure it out?
Back to here. I'm an early riser, always was. Get up, shuffle to the sink to do my teeth before they come in and give me the whole whang dang doodle wash and wax to get me ready to face the day.
I used to go to the crafts classes here. They were ok, but, a man only need so many fake leather wallets with horses on them. After all, I've nobody to really give one to. If you want one, let me know, I've lots. Did a few of the Christmas trees in ceramics, but, after a while, I lost interest. The wife loved having the trees around, but, without her, it's not the same. Made about 7 or 8, let the nurses have those.
The nurses, great kids. Not the same as the ones we had in the war. Those....well, those were nurses. They could do anything needed, field strip a rifle, put in an IV under fire, drive a jeep, all without getting those starched white uni's ***** or blood stained. And...without losing their caps. Nurses today? good kids, but, not as tough in my book. Things have changed a lot, no uniforms like the old days, pretty casual, and 5 nurses to do what one would do in one quick visit. Now, 5 nurses, 2 hours to do what?
Anyways, I hear one coming now, so I best go. I know it's not my birthday, and VE day was the other day, so, must be tests again for something. I'll be here if you need a wallet remember, lots to go around. Hope to talk soon,
Just ask for Gramps, they'll get you here.
May 9, 2020
May 9, 2020 at 12:28 PM UTC
Ordinary Valaam nursing home
For the good and the poor but not for saints.
There are a lot of crowded wards home,
For old people with neither arms nor legs.
Here the nurses can’t keep track of everything—
That’s why there are always stench and doom here,
Everybody has a look depth carrying
In which is visible renunciation mere.
Here lived the hero of the USSR.
Wounded in battle under Krasnodar.
Like everyone else, a Soviet officer,
Just cynically called “a samovar”.
He was never discouraged for everyone—
He joked of everything and laughed heartily,
He gave useful advices to everyone,
And he only smiled at rudeness daily.
They took veterans “out for a walk”, they
Attached the veterans to fir trees on sackcloth,
In the evening old men were removed from fir trees , they
Had to sleep. Was forgotten the hero’s
Life. He didn’t die from multiple wounds,
He died quietly, without a cry or a sigh.
Died here so, having frozen veterans.
Together with them died the epoch, great and high.
{2020}
СМЕРТЬ ГЕРОЯ
Обычный валаамский интернат –
Не для святых, но сирых и убогих.
Здесь много переполненных палат
Для стриков безруких и безногих.
Сиделки тут за всем не уследят –
А потому здесь смрад и обречённость.
У каждого - глубокий очень взгляд,
Видна в котором только отрешённость.
Тут жил один герой СССР ,
Израненный в бою под Краснодаром.
Подобно всем, советский офицер
Цинично назывался «самоваром».
Он никогда для всех не унывал –
Шутил про всё и искренне смеялся.
Советы всем полезные давал.
В ответ на грубость – только улыбался.
Однажды «выводили» всех «гулять» -
На мешковинах к елям прицепили.
И к вечеру с деревьев сняли - спать.
А про героя начисто забыли!
Он умер не от множественных ран,
По-тихому – без крика или вздоха.
Вот так ушёл, замёрзнув, ветеран.
И с ним ушла великая эпоха!
{25.02.2020}
Translator - I. Toporov
May 8, 2020
May 8, 2020 at 6:51 AM UTC
Oh Papa, perish the invading Persian armies.
Oh Papa, do or die at the D-day.
Oh Papa, fight the foreign forces at the front lines.
Oh Papa, go face your turbulent trials in the trenches.
Oh Papa, come back in one piece from the Pearl Harbour.
But Papa, why did you scare your own son into submission?
But Papa, why did you beat your own blood till he bled out?
But Papa, why did you scar your own son into suicide?
Your own son, the sun of your life.
But then Papa, why did you suppress your sun into the sunset?
But then Papa, why did you bury your sun in the horizon beach?
Johny Johny.
Yes Papa?
Did you disobey me?
No Papa.
Are you lying?
No Papa.
Turn your back.
Ah ah ah.
Jan 31, 2020
Jan 31, 2020 at 4:52 PM UTC
Suffering is all I knew,
The soldiers marching through the streets
Each battalion larger than before
Kitty is in danger, along with her kind
A knock on the door knock, knock, knock
My loved ones are in danger,
My feelings alienated
Towards the cruel dictatorship
The door opened with a creak,
My mother hid behind the couch,
My father grabbed the blade,
Sunlight gleaming on its surface
The soldiers step in
I’m behind an overturned table
I hear a bang, two more
A women’s scream, a manly yell
My father and mother were gone.
The soldiers had murdered,
Destroyed the last of my joy
Taken away my pride
I ran away, over to the library
Kitty hid behind the shelf
I was not religious but I still wore the star
I was not the same so they searched for my head
I dyed my hair up to standard,
Put in colored contacts
I went outside and ran away
The soldier catching up to me
“I plead for it to stop,
The tormenting conflict.
I plead for peace,
An end to this hate.
I plead for something new.
I plead for life.
I plead for freedom.
I plead for change.”
My family divided due to death,
I stayed with the locals.
Nearly everyone was religious
In this ethnic neighborhood.
An officer came to my door
And asked for the Jews
Asked whether they were living
In the house next door.
I couldn’t do it,
I couldn’t reveal
To the soldier who waited
For the answer to appear
The survivors of the war,
They destroyed the hate,
I followed their lead,
And pushed away the horror
The memories torture me.
The memories destroy me.
The memories hurt me.
The memories sicken me.
But the liberators came
Their flag red with a sickle
Their big metal beasts
Tearing up the streets.
I risked my life because of this hope,
The hope that my family would survive.
I have lost all of it,
Because of this treachery.
I learned about the Bolsheviks,
How they liberated Russia
How they created the Soviets
And destroyed the Germans.
I did the right thing, I think
But I lost all of my friends
I live now with pain and torture
In Warsaw. Suffering.
Dec 10, 2019
Dec 10, 2019 at 11:29 AM UTC