PARODYING BERTOLT BRECHT
There are loves that happen one day,
And they are good ...
others who live a year
And they are better ...
There are others who survive many years
And they are very good ...
But there are others who perpetuate themselves
For all lives ...
These are the eternal,
The indispensable ...
This is
...
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Categories:
bertolt, allusion, appreciation, extended metaphor,
Form: Prose Poetry
As Bertolt Brecht Once Wrote
When you say you're coming,
I don't wait for you...
when you say
"I am
...
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Categories:
bertolt, allegory, allusion, appreciation, confidence,
Form: Epigram
World War Ii Poems and Holocaust Poems Ii - Bertolt Brecht
World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems II - Bertolt Brecht
The Burning of the Books
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation by Michael R. Burch
When the Regime
commanded the unlawful books to be burned,
teams of dull oxen hauled huge cartloads to the bonfires.
Then a banished writer, one of the best,
scanning the list of excommunicated texts,
became enraged
...
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Categories:
bertolt, books, holocaust, race, racism,
Form: Free verse
Bertolt Brecht Holocaust Poem: the Mask of Evil
Die Maske des Bösen (“The Mask of Evil”)
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
A Japanese woodcarving hangs on my wall—
the mask of an ancient demon, limned with golden lacquer.
Not unsympathetically, I observe
the forehead’s bulging veins,
the tremendous strain
such malevolence requires.
***
Original German text:
Die Maske des Bösen
An meiner Wand hängt ein japanisches Holzwerk
Maske eines bösen Dämons, bemalt
...
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Categories:
bertolt, anger, evil, hate, holocaust,
Form: Free verse
Bertolt Brecht Holocaust Poem: Radio Poem
Radio Poem
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
You, little box, held tightly
to me
during my escape,
so that your delicate tubes do not break;
carried from house to house, from ship to train,
so that my enemies may continue communicating with me
by land and by sea
and even in my bed, to my pain;
the last thing I hear at
...
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Categories:
bertolt, flying, holocaust, poems, travel,
Form: Free verse
Bertolt Brecht Holocaust Poem: the Parting
Der Abschied (“The Parting”)
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
We embrace;
my fingers trace
rich cloth
while yours encounter only moth-
eaten fabric.
A quick hug:
you were invited to the gay soiree
while the minions of the "law" relentlessly pursue me.
We talk about the weather
and our eternal friendship's magic.
Anything else would be too bitter,
too tragic.
Bertolt Brecht [1898-1956] was a major
...
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Categories:
bertolt, friendship, holocaust, leaving, war,
Form: Free verse
Bertolt Brecht Holocaust Poem: the Burning of the Books
Die Bücherverbrennung ("The Burning of the Books")
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
When the Regime
commanded the unlawful books to be burned,
teams of dull oxen hauled huge cartloads to the bonfires.
Then a banished writer, one of the best,
scanning the list of excommunicated texts,
became enraged: he’d been excluded!
He rushed to his desk, full of contemptuous wrath,
to
...
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Categories:
bertolt, books, fire, holocaust, voice,
Form: Verse
Bertolt Brecht Translations of Holocaust Poems
The Burning of the Books
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation by Michael R. Burch
When the Regime
commanded the unlawful books to be burned,
teams of dull oxen hauled huge cartloads to the bonfires.
Then a banished writer, one of the best,
scanning the list of excommunicated texts,
became enraged: he’d been excluded!
He rushed to his desk, full of contemptuous wrath,
to write
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
bertolt, holocaust, horror,
Form: Free verse