Long Gutters Poems

World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems V - Ber Horvitz, Yitzkhak Viner, Franta Bass

Der Himmel
"The Heavens"
by Ber Horvitz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

These skies
are leaden, heavy, gray...
I long for a pair
of deep blue eyes....

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I have so many places/acts dear to my heart
I’m just dying to share some with you
Not to boast, I but honor them, all played a part,
I'm sure helped to bring me in your view!

Tell me...

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Giving in to the silence one last time,
Everyone needs encouragement once in a while
Some need it everyday
For God’s sake, hear me out during this time of suffering
You're different from everyone else
It's not your fault x2
It's...

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We have been observing the expanse of the parched land for many years, a land that stood the test of time and captivated by myriad dreams unfolding through the footsteps of the ages thus penetrating...

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REGENERATE :

Doctorated at a premium university,
Lost his concentration to absurdity,
Discarded his desire for rationality. 
Sorry for this dude's unfortunate category.
As solemn as his heart aches,
Peace was lost from the face.
Deep troubles that he stake,
Wrong squad...

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:) now this is what Im talking bout .... nothin iz 2 uncommon when all you got 2 eat iz Ramen 
noodles 4 all y'all poodles
 seahorse sonar struggle with senses 
far beyond the realm...

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I'm such a drama king
What kind of happiness can I bring
At the dinner table? Would they place a label on me?
I'm like a dysfunctional cable box...a beat-up TV 

Pre-chorus: I promise I'll be okay
I just...

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HIROSHIMA
I remember it well, that first day in Hell
             So long ago, I know

As the sirens sounded our Yankee foe
Decided that now his...

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I can feel this thread running all over me, it’s like I am connected to the deep blue sea and the current is pulling me into the deep dragging me towards an unplanned destiny; the...

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Why do I look up to you, 
My chandelier of elegance?
Jealousy scorches my soul...
I'm caught in a spell of your brilliance 
Vanity is a poison in my veins, 
But I got the brains to embrace...

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Took a breath
Of your death
Upon my tongue…
Burnt a lung…
In the process
Of my hopeless state
I’m making progress
As of late, as of late

So young and awkwardly long
I can’t believe I don’t belong
So wrong, it feels right all...

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Life 101 was taught to me in an old mansion in inner-city Chicago.                      ...

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Broken dreams don't die. 
They bleed. 
They cry out for somebody to believe, believe me everybody cries sometimes. 
Even me 

Have you ever wondered what happened to those dreams we ignore 
Do they turn into...

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We enter through the glassed-in porch
And I feel even more at ease, 
Remembering that as a child
My own room once had been a porch
But there are even more windows here
With glass on all three sides.
Old...

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SOLUTIONIST:

Drenched soul placed on a bench,
Avengers revenging not ready to repent;
Edge of grudges they always entrench,
Dreading of fate, that's what they depend.
Trends and hypes risen from their wrench;
Pitching and hitching bit of all been said,
Mashed...

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ALONE AND FORGOTTEN, THIS OLD MAN WANDERED AROUND,
THROUGH GUTTERS AND ALLEYWAYS, ALONE IN THIS TOWN.
ONCE, HE WAS WEALTHY, OR AT LEAST HAD SOME DOE,
BUT WHY HE LEFT IT BEHIND; NO ONE SEEMED TO KNOW.
VISITING THE...

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Late night summons madmen, 
madams, bold streetwalkers, 
picking pennies from the gutters 
as the merchants close their shutters 
and the homeless crouch in doorways 
in their rags, against the cold. 
Black or white, no compromise,...

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The front door closed behind me.

Along the city's mourning streets,
eyes glanced up,
and quickly looked away.

'Ought implies can'. 

In the Ethics seminar,
I could not help feeling like a fly on the wall.

Words drowned in heavy water,
the...

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Arise O Compatriots
The time is near when we head for the ballots
The time when we decide for a new revolution
Or maybe another time to renew corruption

Genocides birthed out of hatred everywhere
Many voices are silenced out...

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(Manifesto) 

VIII … stop! - Skid! - Shift knobs, slide gears, vomit numbness, fondle!… the music of 
guillotines!… 

VII … unmannered retching! since everything is a percentage of death in motel prayer-nights 
separated from unholy...

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V.
From the day it seemed that things just got worse,
she started handing with less-than-great friends,
and more than once she was caught cutting class,
more and more Miles could feel his heart rend.

He tired talking to her…so...

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I couldn’t prevent the way my life went in my twenties 
unprecedented events continuously astounded 
it left me numb and confused into my thirties,
those intense incidents consistently impounded. 

I'm breaking out this perplexed stunned silence,
penetrating...

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rain hitting the asphalt, the cracking concrete, water weaving
its way down the overpass. Residents cover up with plastic,
a conflagration of yellow light on garbage bags
hitting tree tops, branches, leaves old and new. Boughs
sagging with the...

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“When there’s Summer rain, have no regrets.
  It isn’t raining rain, it’s raining violets.
  When you see clouds upon the hill,
You really see crowds of daffodils” – B.G.DeSilva

Tiny droplets snatched by the parched...

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Late night summons madmen, 
madams, bold streetwalkers, 
picking pennies from the gutters 
as the merchants close their shutters 
and the homeless crouch in doorways 
in their rags, against the cold. 
Black or white, no compromise,...

Read More