Holocaust Friendship Poems

Rocky

Rock is not a racehorse, 
he is a tiny Billy goat. 
He thinks he is much larger
than he really is. 
One day, 
he will be...

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Hannah Rayburn*
shared virtues she did learn
blest in her growing-up endeavor 
inspired by Dad, a Holocaust survivor.

Emma 'Grace' McKee
showed values of spirited glee
along joyously functional friendship**
midst...

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Trumpet

The first thing this morning, Lord...
I need to do,
is to talk to you. 

I have slept all night, safe.
I know the angels were there. 
I...

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Looking back, one thing comes clean-glass clear
you were always there for me subduing every fear.

I tried to do my duty, be a husband strong and...

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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...

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Simon Hardy.

Simon Hardy.

Resilience is his hidden name...
STRENGTH in his softness,
Never misses a chance to speak a kind word,
Even though he is most often in terrible...

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remember
when childhood held dreams

remember 
when friends where real

remember
Anne Frank, child betrayed

remember
when poetry spoke of the heart

remember
when the psycho penetrated with dart

remember
those who tell tales true

remember
	the...

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PARALLEL ARE THE RAILS 

(PRE-VERSE 1)
Feeling all alone
Cast away like a stone

Few friends what I got
True friends can’t be bought.

(VERSE 1)
Living is a joke
Think I’m...

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I AM SHE THAT HATES TO DEBATE, ESPECIALLY, WHEN IT IS TOO LATE TO CONTEMPLATE WITH FAITH.

I WISH I HAD TOOK THE BAIT AND WAIT,...

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TWO

there are always two
entering as animals
from the outer
pistons in motion
planting fans for 
one another

burnt out brains
searching names
is it a heart…
a holocaust
or just a
flame?

to feel ...

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someone always told me this with tears in her eyes...


(for Lata Sethi's late-mother, who was my mother’s ‘sister’ and who took us all into her...

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