sample+poem

Sample Poem and Rationale
By Nick S.
 * Cruelty, Faith **

Shot on the spot Those who could not keep pace were simply shot. Never let each other down I give you three seconds We did let him down.

The inhumanity of man against man Unbelievable Totally unreal Weak probably isn’t even the right term Walking dead, skeletons.

Where are they taking us? Where are they taking us? Nobody answered The sadism, the cruelty, the irrationality Their hatred was so blind This is a madman’s hell.

We didn’t run away, or hide Told stories, we didn’t believe them Why do they hate us all of a sudden? Why are they so hostile? Just mind your own business. We don’t want them mad at us.

Concentration, ghettoization, deportation The Nazi’s were taking our infants and tearing them in half Hunted animal, twenty-four hours a day Forty boxcars, absolutely filled with dead bodies The terrible things don’t need a reason.

The call him ‘the Shooter’, everyday he kills some poor Jew, just for fun They hung there for one week The Germans intended to make an example of them REWARD! FOR EVERY UNREGISTERED JEW YOU FIND: 1 KILO OF SUGAR It’s about time.

I cannot find a place for higher authority in this nightmare Where is God? I don’t think God created the Holocaust I was so close to death Now, why did I survive? Why did you spare me?

I chose the theme Cruelty and Faith because I believe that those are some of the most descriptive words for the human disaster that is known as the Holocaust. A portion of the poem is based on the word Cruelty because that’s what it really was. They were inhumane, terrible and cruel acts against the Jews as a race, not a religion. Hitler and Nazi Germany turned the world on the Jewish people and put into people’s mind that all Jews must be exterminated, obliterated. Easily over six million were killed, which is inhumane, sick, and cruel. I also chose the theme Faith as it was very important to the suffering Jews in the camps and in Europe in general. Hunted night and day and a huge chance of never seeing tomorrow was a hard thing to live by. Even though the harsh, awful conditions that 99% of the time ended in death, most Jews kept in touch with God, making menorahs, praying, and singing. Yes, they did begin to question why their almighty and kind God would ever do such a thing to them and question if they did something wrong, but they kept their faith strong and held on as long as they could. It’s very depressing, but powerful and touching. I wanted to keep each stanza in a five sentence structure with related sentences from both sources so it made sense and flowed. I separated some sentences to make it stand out more in certain phrases. I hope this poem – created by other’s words – conveyed my thoughts about this appalling time in history. We must prevent something this overwhelmingly inhumane ever happens again.
 * Rationale **