Long Crusts Poems

World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - IV - Primo Levi

Shema
by Primo Levi
translation by Michael R. Burch

You who live secure
in your comfortable houses, 
who return each evening to find
warm food, 
welcoming faces...

consider whether this...

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There is a water glint,
just shining through the copse beyond.
Autumn's sinking sun, 
barred by spindle trees and the last 
of summer's brindled reeds 
and sedge and rush that fringe this stilling pond.
.
 
Damp leaves hide...

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Both of my daughters 
have married and moved on
both now have lives 
and homes of their own 

both their “old” bedrooms
now empty of them
their laughter 
and music  

still harbour their presence
their energy and love
and...

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The casement creaked under the scrutiny of darkness

A lonely candle flickered to the tune of one single log

Unhinged she sat where darkness fell upon her face

Which had grown cobwebs and spider lines over time


It was...

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Our mother was the prettiest mom in the room. Creative, multi-talented, always doing much more than what was average. We never had a store bought dress and ours were gorgeous with ribbons, lace, and rickrack....

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Once upon a time...

Once upon a time, in France, a storyteller fella
Wrote of a girl named Cinderella,
Meant as a fairy tale romance.
Her daddy died when she was young, and she was forced to share his...

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I waited
Under the outspread foliage
Of the banana tree, 
With ripening fruits dangling precariously, 
Wondering, 
With eyes set on the earth, 
Wishing I understood
This everlasting madness.
To what end would man go,
To what end? 
A mystery it...

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I am a purple headed chicken with glass beads. I like to roam the wooded glades. I often wear a pair of shades. It shields my precious amethyst eyes from the glare of the sun....

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The old man had finished raiding the garbage cans outside Tines' store,
A few crusts of bread and a bit of sausage, his belly screamed for more,
Walking away he shivered, as he hid the book from...

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I'm sixty years old 
tomorrow is not Guaranteed
if I live for another twenty 
or thirty years I'd be doing well

In thirty years 
when I die 
the world will not 
matter to Me '

I'll be gone...

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The Things Our Parents Said
By Robert (Bob) Moore

The things that we remember, from days of long ago
we believed, it was all true, our parents told us so
we now know they were kidding us, a trick...

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 total fiction

I heard the words repeated on the news
so sick of them that my mind rebelled...
"Doge's plan and Trump commands
the Constitution should be banned.
Hell to that Chief!  There's no relief
Breaking news only heightened...

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The young couple surveys the area.
Large aged oak trees gift shade.
Thick luscious grass carpets the ground.
Pastel wild flowers dance on the breeze.
The pale blue sky is expansive.

She takes the time to spread each crease
Out of...

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We cannot do without water,
But it could do without us
If we choose!
 
Bodies of living things are made up 
of mostly water, squashy plants,
Blood and Lymph  included too. 
Without Hydration, the skin as well...

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Whether Evolution or the Spoken Word,
From time immemorial, seasons revolve
And cosmetic changes take place.
The Creator in an awesome way,
Fashioned this universe of air, land and sea.
From season to season all creation knows,
When it's the right...

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amusing apples how rather interesting
An algorithm is an acrobatic arithmetic on a mean ruler dancing across striped squared paper. Format is firstly founded. Then landing with the pen to form the shapes is always considered...

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Tossing and turning after a heavy economic loss
The shock shattered my peace of nights
Hugging my pillow tight with unshed tears
The sorrowful thoughts trudged haltingly
To my grandma's antique sewing machine
Lying impassively in the cluttered store
Guilt shook...

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Does Ever Eternity, Mortal Souls Beckon

Does ever eternity, mortal souls beckon
We in fragile shells, its calls so deftly defy 
Because of our deep lusting, dark set, and wanton 
We seek our malignant pleasures before we...

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  “Grief is like the ocean. The waves ebb and flow. Sometimes the water is calm. Other times it's turbulent. In order to survive, I had to learn to swim. In moments when I...

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In dells and great glens groups of happy orphan children run and pick bunches of flowers,
They smell them, weave them into posies and garlands, they are blessed by angels in heaven,
And all these children are...

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In dells and great glens groups of happy orphan children run and pick bunches of flowers,
They smell them, weave them into posies and garlands, they are blessed by angels in heaven,
And all these children are...

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Cells work is play
to resiliently thrive
only in organic systems.

Individual yolked cells
each with her own ego-governor
survive healthy together
and divide tragically apart

More like symbiotic regenerations
of surfing cantilevers
than degenerations
outside predations
storming waves
of colonizing cancers.

Transgendering 
transubstantiating
transitions can be both

Too hard...

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Moving into the deep luscious woods perspiring as darkness grew,
I saw a lovely high tree with soft branches vanish in the green sky  
Climbing up within its branches I saw a sparkling stone drop...

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Cleaning out my refrigerator, an ice cube slides to the floor
startling the cat, and interrupting a locomotive of thought
that often tracks me down in a beam of  light---
Today it streams through a  window,...

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Guilty by birth,
A citizen by a vote
A right that took centuries for women to exercise
A narrative that still paints societies

In two opposing colors
With tension simmering underground
And the quack so profound.
Divisions, discord, and decadence
Trust thinning frivolously
With...

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