No Butterflies In the Ghetto

six million stones a railroad car streaked red a thousand astrodomes swollen with dead children the population of houston dallas wiped out ugly striped prison uniforms signifying captures and escapes martin luther as a bigot bonhoeffer as a hero dying days before the liberation faces from rwanda darfur signaling the continuance of a tradition of genocide a danish fishing boat hiding neighbors in a fake bottom to escape a wicked storming the pictures of happy proud loving families bludgeoned in broken glass a soft cloth golden star like a slave branding pulsating with hatred and judgement harsher than the ornate letter a for hester 1500000 butterflies sewn drawn carved remembering the children who lost their lives in the Holocaust "Butterflies don't live in here, here in the ghetto" Pavel Friedman, April, l942 Written after a visit to The Holocaust Museum of Houston