Event: Anglo-Boer War 1899–1902—Measles epidemic in the concentration camps.
In the voice of: Sannie Botha (a survivor).
Jan’s cough kept me awake all through the night.
The children are all coughing in the night;
the fevers gave us all a mighty fright.
The red, now itchy, spots on body parts;
“Oh! Son Jan, don’t you scratch the itchy parts,
as scabs and scars will follow just like warts.”
If only I had negosiekist* at hand.
The muthi† in friend's kist – her helping hand –
but mothers dug graves with bare hands in sand.
Now I might stop to shake my balled fist.
The Tommies‡ shake their riffles in tight fists;
they're no older than Jan when they enlisted.
The torment was breaking all of our hearts
and the fragile peace brokered, never lasts.
Concentrate
So you can penetrate
Through that concrete
Which are obstacles, denials and more
Into your concealed dreams or visions
Without deviating from your mission.
Focus and keep looking ahead
So you don't loose guard
Then fall back or resent
That's what a coward does
Relenting or forfeiting dreams.
Distraction is an enemy
That steals your glory
Gain victory over you
If you ain't focus or curious
So; concentrate on what's ahead of you
Concentrate on the necessities
Forget about the naysayers
People always have something to talk.
Constance Canstinople had connubial concentration
Every date was a grilling, not a joyful celebration.
She spoke of having children with men she barely knew
She stayed single all of her years until she died at ninety-two.
All she wanted was marriage, her nephews and nieces said.
Too bad that she never got to wear her veils and now she’s dead.
But we can reap the benefits of the wedding gowns she collected.
Full of pearls, sequins and lace, beautiful when inspected.
Constance had been too pushy, but she would be better next time.
This is what she said to her main guardian angel Clementine.
Clementine hoped for the best and sent her back as a baby girl.
On her spank she thought “satin dresses and on each a big pearl!”
OBSERVE.
Observe what you have never
Observed before..
Observe the water flowing..
Observe the sun rising..
Observe the sun setting..
Observe the colors of rainbow
Scatter in the sky..
Observe the plant
Growing from a seed..
Observe the due drops
Shining like crystals on leaves..
Observe the organs and
The organ systems inside you.
Observe the strength
Of mountains..
The softness of
The clouds..
Observe the comforts
Of earth..
Observe the
Miraculous signs
In the universe..
Discombobulation
Interrupts my concentration
In the darkest corner of my mind
It's sinuous coils unwind
And because of it's intrusion
I'm caught up in confusion
My thoughts become so scattered
And the thing that really mattered
The track that I was following
The snake is busy swallowing
I wish I could combobulate
And concentrate to meditate
gruesome black tattoo
survived concentration camp
gold solid soul
CONCENTRATION
startling
visuals
invoking
the
unspoiled
somehow
morph
into passion
&intensity
of feeling
articulated
a
work in progress
courtesy
of
ancestry
impoverished
inobvious
the
obvious
studies the
in
ultimate
freedoms
obviously
&
enshrined
a deeply
personal
response
to community
interests
inspired
by a series
of
scenes
NOTE:THIS IS AN OPEN(organic) FORM VERSE using spaces&breaks without grammatical symbols ,the ' open' relies upon 'the one breath limitation' & so inherently requires the 'reader' (reciter) to input and responds thus making this enigmatic form a two way interplay & interpretatIon unique to the moment& changing according to mood is inherently variable.
Copyright © Brian Strand
And then all of a sudden I was in a mysterious world,
A woman here shelling peas, for they have no rights to be wasted
Being ignored in her shop, they were two days older
She had more of the new arrivals but then she has got the power,
that to know both the peas were same inside as how they should be
I need to take her, to a faraway land, once gone
There were these captives,begging to get their pea of the day in a camp full of illusions
And those melancholic eyes would really find what grateful is, if they happen to see her
What others think of you is none of your business,
Focusing your mind on your work will bring success.
Ceaseless revolution.
Purest chant.
Energy of the cosmos.
Power of concentration.
Essence of ultimate reality.
Journey, direction and progress.
Harmony and togetherness.
Confidence and determination.
Growth, change, evolution.
Creativity and wisdom.
Ego to enlightenment.
Evolution and surrender.
A Change which is bound to happen.
Spiral is the essence of life.
SPIRAL POETRY CONTEST
Sponsored by: Kai Michael Neumann
14th Jan; 2020
All things can tempt me~ I'm a scatter brain
Trying to focus causes a degree of pain
Distracted by a yummy treat or herbal tea
The slightest sounds arouse and sidetrack me
It's all too easy to sway my concentration
Toying with convoluted laws of attraction
My attention spins often on a dime
It doesn't take much for me to waste my time
That's why I prefer to ignore the phone
And keep working on building me a clone
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Concentration
Deep concentration
can't think of a haiku
oh the hell with it
Speechless at Auschwitz
by Ko Un
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
At Auschwitz
piles of glasses
mountains of shoes ...
returning, we stared out different windows.
Ko Un speaks for all of us, by not knowing what to say about the evidence of the Holocaust, and man's inhumanity to man.
Ko Un was speechless at Auschwitz.
Someday, when it’s too late,
will we be speechless at Gaza?
—Michael R. Burch
Keywords/Tags: Holocaust, Auschwitz, antisemitism, inhumanity, brutality, terror, mass murder, genocide, infanticide, matricide, ethnic cleansing, Gaza, racism, Zionism
i got thinking
of all the
drinks
that killed
thoughts
locked in
brain cells
it's a fine line
it's genocide
a grey area of
grey matter a
matter of fact
the barbed wire
wrapped and worn
around my head
jesus by no means
a crown of thorns
more orna
mental
not a
keep
sake
just a
means
of trying
to stop pos
sible thoughts
from escaping
but the ones
that are con
fined in mind
are visually
enigmatic
and i should
not see
them so in turn
they turn into
the words of
the script of
the movie
stalag
seven
teen
Serene, at peace...
Calm's a unique kind of cool
Concentration tool...
Fools too oft get excited
Wise men, not thus incited
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