at Auschwitz there are rooms
filled to the ceiling
with old shoes
they have been traded
for jackboots
by the new Jews
Americans overthrew
the Third Reich
in the name of liberty
those soldiers never knew
they'd simply relocate it
they'd hate it
if they knew that
rockets or no
the ones they rescued
would do
what they're doing in Gaza
in fifty short years
the world has turned
full circle
but the real disgrace is
for all history's lessons
all mankind has changed
are his shoelaces
Author notes
This is not an attack on Israeli foreign policy, more a lament at our inability to learn not to become the monsters we fight to kill.
Comments
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These Boots Were Made For Walking...
Hi Windhover, nice one, and highly relevant!
As I think I ve mentioned my wife and I visited Auschwitz 1 and 2 a few years back and saw the rooms full of victims shoes, spectacle frames, prosthetic limbs and human hair among other gruesome vistas.
The sheer scale of the main camp was mindnumbing.
Your poem here conveys powerful sentiments skillfully enunciated and (despite your disclaimer) is a damning argument against the utterly disastrous policies of a facist/zionist state.
I m working at a refugee centre nowadays, John, and many are the horrific accounts corroborated by news reports relayed to me by Gazan refugees.
Gaza is the worlds largest concentration camp and for a few weeks it became an extermination camp whereby willfull destruction of schools and medical facilities by the warcriminals of the IDF shocked the world.
I beg to differ from Daves apologetic view of Israeli brutality. They are the occupiers and therefore have the largest portion of responsibility for this tragedy.
Their blockade of Gaza has reduced an already desperate situation to a humanitarian disaster, their continuous commando raids and assasinations of legally elected officials made a mockery of the so-called ceasefire, the roadblocks, illegal settlers, the aparteid wall, expropriation of Palestinian land - all this crimes serve to render Israeli expostulations of selfdefence pathetic.
In my view ANY resistance perpetrated by an underdog woefully outclassed by the forth most powerful army in world bolstered by American "aid" worth 50 000 000 dollars pr day is legitimate.
Israeli leaders are creating a climate whereby all jews around the world are increasingly vulnerable. I raise my glass however to the 1700 (400 jailed) military dissenters in Israel who have refuced to partake in the killing of innocent and helpless civilians, and aswell to the indomitable spirit of the hardpressed Palestinian people.
Whew excuse the rant, mate - great poems have in the past been known to precipitate such ourbursts.
Warmest regards
freegGaza
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No Bandwagons
Hi gG and how the hell are you. It's very easy to have a go at the Israelis - has been for a long time. It's also very easy to sympathize with the Palestinians, they're such obvious underdogs. America is slightly less conspicuous but hugely guilty in all of this and money makes this world go around.
I'd like to stop short of jumping on any bandwagons though, especially since I'm absolutely convinced that if the boot were on the other foot, the Palestinians would be doing even worse things. It is a condemnation of the human race that a people so recently and horribly wronged can hand out such fascist atrocities and that the 'civilized' world stands idly by and is so totally ineffectual in its protests. Hence my 'lament' (disclaimer).
I do remember your visit to Auschwitz,( you may remember it almost coincided with a friend of mine's) and the imagery here is largely thanks to our conversations from back then.
Good work on the refugee thing - I bet the refugees wonder what the hell has happened to the good ol' Red Cross!
Good to hear from ya, mate. >W<
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haha....i like the added ending. i refers back to the metaphor and rhyme of the beginning. good way to wrap it up
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great message. GREAT MESSAGE! rework the language a little. replace 'Americans' for sure i'd say.... maybe with something nondescript, or at least 'the allies.' and in my opinion the last two stanzas have more potential. great read though
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In lesser hands i suppose this would have been an epic-length of a poem. The concentration of images in this poem awed me. I read somewhere that man generally has very short memories, hence we can't seem to remember our past. We were once victims and we forget that, then become perpetrators. Its a strange world, but you capture the idea perfectly here and I think you should drop "Gaza" in the title and just use "Full Circle." The latter captures everything. Great poem as usual Windhover.
-iphios -
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Self destruction
Hey Iphios and thanks for the kind comment here. As I said to Dave, this must ultimately be a lament for the human condition more than a protest poem. As you correctly pointed out, our nature as humans seems to be self-destructive. Thanks for reading and commenting as always. >W<
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hey john
i liked the poem i agree with Pap, your presentation is so neat, this is politically charged so naturally i have a reaction. i'm not condoning what isreal did, but they gave the gaza strip back to Palestine who then proceeded to send missiles into Israel from the gaza strip. here in america after 3000 americans died in 9/11 from saudi hijackers we bombed over a half million iraq civilians dead, which is less moral than israel. but getting back to the conflict whats isreal suppossed to do when their getting hit by missiles? violence begets violence.
dave -
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Lament
Hey Dave. The trouble with political poems is they deal with politics and there really aren't any black and white areas where we might like them to be. You mentioned the inappropriate response of the US to 9/11 and it's the arrogance of powerful countries that is so hugely offensive and Nazi-like in these situations. However I have no doubt whatsoever that if the Palestinians had the power balance tipped in their favour they'd behave even worse. The problem is the human condition, not the nationalities. We just don't seem to be able to transcend it. I wish I had a solution to offer but I only have this lament. Thanks for the savvy comment. >W<
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Applaud
Nicely done as usual.
Birdie
language: 5, rhythm: 5, subject: 5, tone: 5, form: 5.
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Good - almost there
I don't' think you need the last 2 lines - kind of withdraws into humour when above it's a snappy, sharp, to the point poem. Also think you need to re-think ' in the name of liberty' - 1st, it's a cliche. 2nd, & more important for yr poem it doesn't scan as the 3rd line to stanzas 1 & 2 do.
Apart from this - I think it's a good poem. Thank you for letting me comment.
Not suggesting a line or solution as requested beelow - you have to write yr own poem.
do I sign off here ?
Im berta Freistadt
language: 3, rhythm: 3, subject: 5, tone: 4, form: 3.
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Savvy
Hi Berta, I'm John and thank you for your terrifically savvy and to-the-point critique. I took it seriously and re-wrote the last lines. Very much appreciated. Thanks again. >W<
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Windhover,
I love the rhyme "shoes" and Jews." the whole poem is simply stated but with strong historical context. I really appreciate the few words you have written regarding such a horrific subject. the second stanza is my favorite. But I'm not so sure the two last lines fit your tone. also, I'm squinting at "then again." maybe an impersonal tone works best here.
besides that, the layout and picture are fantastic. I enjoy the neatness of the overall presentation, being a stickler for detail.
always,
Pap
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On the money
Hey Pap, thanks so much for what I consider a really perceptive and astute comment. Don't get too many of those to the pound these days. I reckon you're right about the tone of the last lines and I've seriously re-written the last stanza. Thanks for the input. >W<
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