DEBRA GIRARD

Kotel

hundreds of short notes

crammed into

cracks of the hard and weathered bunks

I assume there are prayers,

notes from survivors

to lost relatives, friends.

Terezin's Ashkenazi HaKotel HaMa'aravi

RIght here in the Czechlands

I couldn't shake their presence

Once a showcase,

but when the shows were over

a chugging off to an ashen destiny.

Why the hell is there a giant cross

looming over their graves?

Yes gentiles also died there

but were fewer, much fewer in number.

klezmer orchestras- listen carefully

you can hear

the sound of

tens of thousands

of voices

that form a wailing clarinet

mingling with the wind.

Artie Shaw"s "Nightmare"

come to life

My panicked ears

will not shake it. An electrical impulse

formed by my psyche affected others

who were with me that day...

A Prague brogue says to me:

"You panic? I too."

hidden prayer hall, Terezin.

  October 2, 2011 at 7:36pm