Long Primo 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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I was skimming Friday's paper as I waited for my barber to put the finishing touches on a customer he he was pruning,
Glancing up occasionally at the Mohawk-headed dropout who'd wandered in from off the...

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Written 24 December 2023 
Placed 5th in :
No 1243 New Poem Only Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Brian Strand

                  ...

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From 2010. Narrator is Robert Gibbs, snooty White House Press Secretary.

Lay, O Lord, a curse on press men, rude and churlish, sad, obsessed men 
Who persist to query me on matters they know I must...

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"Mi primo" means my cousin in Spanish.
He calls me his "primita"- little cousin.
This is the story of how mi primo
Taught me about the meaning of bread;
Of the meaning of tortillas...
He and I are exchanging languages...

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THEY WERE NOT ADMIRED, THEY WERE HARDLY EVEN LIKED, THEY REFRAMED FROM COMMENT DUE TO THEIR DISPOSITION, ALLOWING
SOMEONE WITH A GREATER DISPOSITION TO BE IN CONTROLL. mONITERING
THEIR ABLITIES WOULD BE EASY AS THESE MEN WERE...

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This autumn morning with the birds waking up
and the leaves changing is Election Day. I meet
Jane Trichter on the downtown train and discuss
Henry's upset. Her skin is soft especially her cheeks
and she is intelligent and...

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Buna
by Primo Levi
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Mangled feet, cursed earth,
the long interminable line in the gray morning
as Buna smokes corpses through industrious chimneys...

Another gray day like every other day awaits us.

The terrible whistle shrilly...

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I believe that poetry is and of is was were have has been of as one pretenses a 
poetic practical pompous, pro  (p) ransomedramatical  postenses
pretending to prose promise a 
predictive premise primatory practicum...

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Boot it up baby cause the search is on top
We looking for filler and none of that slop
The stuff we call primo, Chivas and that sensie
The limo and jetplane, jewels and clemency
A forgiveness of feeling...

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Ioàn: O sacro grembo a cui per levitade
          disgravar de ' suo ire 'n cieli falsi
          i'...

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Hurled into the desert by a beatnik pilot and dropped off just above nirvana.  I find myself in a peculiar yet remarkable position.  I am now alone.  I look out above the...

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Beatrice:  Tu miri a la funestia de l'austeria 
                    commistion de l'invidia e d'acerbe
 ...

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Shema ("Listen")
by Primo Levi
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

You who live secure
in your comfortable homes,
who return each evening to find
warm food and a hearty welcome ...

Consider: is this a "man"
who slogs through the mud,
who knows...

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In regnis verborum, ubi somnia avolant,
Versum componam virtute purissima.
Calamo in manu, cor meum flagrat,
Narrabo fabulam, notissimam unquam.

Super tabula caelesti gratiae,
Colores amplexus amoris exprimam.
A primo mane ad crepusculi fulgorem,
Tapestry conficiam, poetae somnium.

In pratis aureis, ubi flores...

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porta con sé una croce e la promessa di
riscatto
circoli danzanti attorno al tuo dolore
sussurrando parole dolci a voi come voi
try & sleep,
la sua voce si suppone per portare conforto
suoi incantesimi dovrebbero cacciare gli
problemi che state...

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Tutti sappiamo che la vita è un sogno.
Ora che dormo incontro tanta gente
Le cui vicende raccontare agogno.
We all know that life is dream
Now while sleeping I meet many people
Whose events to recount I covet
Nel sogno...

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There's a rumor going around. Mythical little
Stocky men called Dwarves are living in Gem
Mountain.
They're mining jewels of all kinds down below.
Heard tell they're exceptionally skilled in the art
Of Smith metal working steel which explains all
The...

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In the vast green meadow
Next to the water was a special celebration
On a night like no other this was the scene.
There were many tents with family crests, 
Tables, food galore, seats, people everywhere,
Lit lanterns and...

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Allontanai l'immediato impugnando l'ira, 
Remisi al vento l'aere sermo,
Onde nei lai l'afflato spira;
E l'eco fa al dolore schermo.

Nodrì la bocca maraviglia,
Attese il fiordo della gola;
Diluminò però le ciglia
Costui, che stando la speranza ruola.

Indifferente il viso...

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lacking inspiration
I gave up trying
put it down left it alone
thought I could come up with come thing on my own
then I sat down
said that's what I would do
but when I got comfortable
I started thinking of...

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Older than dirt, 1932 in May
long before I saw the light of day, 
The Moon Rocket was published, stellar piece. 
staccato was its mark of expertise.

I was three in 1947.
At the top of the stairs...

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" HISKEY " wASSER wACKEAL 
MADE HIS LONG AWAITED DEBUT AGAINST
                    "FUSSER"
    ...

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Spring comes
Quietly--
Not with the bleating of lambs or
The tweeting of birds or the
Beating of butterfly wings

Spring comes
Silently--
Celtic through the Neolithic stones,
Unheralded by peering shadow-seekers
Rummaging around on the Second of
February, and unannounced by a
Banner on the...

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She felt a little less than attractive
And a little bit radioactive
In a super hero kind of way
Everyday's an endless wave 
But she can't save them all 
Their pleading prayers fill the air 
And echo down...

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