Kai Michael Neumann Poet Free verse

Notes About The Poem

My father was from Koenigsberg and a soldier in WWII

'Necklacing' was a form of killing opponenets during Apartheid, by throwing a rubber tyre around neck and arms and then to set the victim alight with petrol

My wife is from Johannesburg

Sudan is roughly equidistant from the Baltic and South Africa's plateu 

Maybe one day...the madness will stop

Embers and Snowflakes Migrating

I descend from Prussian tradition full of frozen rain and fire’s marches

Lagoons and marshes my father and history know about the Baltic Sea where 
                                       
                                         amber 


swims ashore adorned jewelry of hearts and minds now on my lover’s slender 
                                        
                     neck


We share ancestral stories my wife and I of concentration camps and necklaced

innocents declared informers in Apartheid set alight with tyres in hateful petrol 
                            
                          fumes 


and Jewish screams to Genesis in the beginning that was the word when ashes 
                                  
                                  upon ashes 


held all Phoenix’s aground and violence and genocidal anger knows no
                          
                                         boundaries


In flaked photographs and winter ember days set aside for prayer to the 
              
                                                 Universe


avalanches and winter glows are waiting for the solitude of summer’s dawning


when Christmas is just another Sudan desert day abandoned by the God of 
                                          
                                  hellfire


Equidistance from Johannesburg and Koenigsberg belies the message flies away 
                                              
                                           from Peace 


lie lies and old recurrent news in which winter landscapes rarely light the hollow 
                                                           
                                                       eyed

children’s dreams but glowing coal burns brightly when the sky erupts and 
                                                                      
                                                                    hallowed

bombs fall from heaven and I declare snowflakes and ember a luxury problem in 
                                                                                  
                                                             my soul

♡Like0

Share Poem

---

Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.

Please Login to post a comment

Nette Onclaud January 12, 2018 at 11:14 AM surely, this deserves a win; wonderfully expressed, kai... big congrats!

Eve Roper January 7, 2018 at 10:14 AM Congratulations on your win, Kai. Hugs Eve ~`*

Maureen McGreavy Pigeon Tart January 7, 2018 at 6:54 AM Wow, Kai, a phenomenal heart wrenching eloquent and important penning. Thank you. And warm congratulations for your placement in the contest. xomo

Line Gauthier January 6, 2018 at 3:17 PM Wow - a high percentage of us can never relate to such hell on earth. It sure brings it home to hear about it from survivors. Congrats on your win and enlightening us by sharing, Kai.

Susan Ashley January 6, 2018 at 12:51 PM A powerful and sorrowful emotional poem Kai. You delve deeply into the horrors of man against humanity and poetically and poignantly shed your brilliant light. Your write will live with me.. Congratulations on a well deserved second place win with your excellent poem. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan P.S. truly appreciated the poet's note as well..

Andrea Dietrich December 28, 2017 at 12:53 PM wow, Kai, I predict a WIN for this one. I can't seem to write a poem that John ever likes but I feel this is the type he is looking for. A difficult form for me, free verse. But you really did a great job describing this horror in an actual beautiful way. It's beyond my comprehension how badly man can treat another man. Kai Michael Neumann December 29, 2017 at 3:02 AM Thank you Andrea. I have the opposite 'problem' to yours. I can pretty much only write free verse and never what others might expect. Too stubborn and set in my poetic ways...Many wishes, Kai

Arturo Michael December 27, 2017 at 6:27 AM Oh Kai...My troubled heart...Would never make sense of what 2-3000 years has failed to resolve...There's something mysterious in the air...A conscious poem...