Sunday, June 23, 2013

Along the edge of why



Along the edge of why

Along the edge of the tracks
they stumble as 
crumpled files
complex mess of numbered limbs
death marched through 
the frozen forest 

Along the edge of the tracks
their stumble - specter
lurches searching still 
screamed questions burning
in the long limbed trees
answers no class will ever
resolve 
the why of stumble- 
starved- pain - pale
the why of waiting gas
Why
Along the edge of the tracks
the shunned stumble by
good people who rode beside 
good people warm and comfortable 
rumbling in moving trains
seen as flashes of dream in
clacking windows

Now 
so long-later 
vapors rise 
still - 
and compassion's
lie - lays languishing
in the
rustle of wind
in the stumble
of sadism's march
along the edge of 
other looping tracks
where some stumble
and some ride
with blind eyes
watching the rushing 
scenery 
still

as others ask
why?







23 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Awww thanks Laurie - Congrats again on this week's publication - enjoyed being on facing pages with you :) - my halycon NaNo buddy :)

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  2. This is beautiful - filled with emotion and meaning.

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  3. Love this piece, Pearl. The words drove a lot of us to question this week. Perhaps the word answers drove that trend...? Glad you write with us each week, my friend.

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    1. Loving the love Brenda - I look forward to the inspiration each week - Thank you, Thank you, Thank you - (and I agree that the word answers might have spurred questioning - wonderful how the mind words isn't it?)

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  4. Pearl, this is stunning, well written, takes my breath away. This poem flows like one that just tumbled out on the page from your depths:

    "screamed questions burning
    in the long limbed trees
    answers no class will ever
    resolve
    the why of stumble-
    starved- pain - pale
    the why of waiting gas
    Why"

    Why indeed? Whew! One of your best, Pearl.

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    1. Oh Mary - your wonderful comment has simply made far more than my day - yes, the words tumbled - I am thrilled that you enjoyed, humbled and delighted that you shared here :)

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    2. You recreate it with such immediacy!

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  5. "the why of stumble"

    Sadly, the why may never be revealed.

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  6. 'Along the edge of the tracks
    their stumble - specter
    lurches searching still
    screamed questions burning
    in the long limbed trees'
    Yes those ghosts of our shameful past still scream! This is deeply felt and strongly written and I agree, it tumbles onto the page!
    Bravo!

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  7. A dear friend of mine's father passed away two weeks ago, he was a survivor of the camps as was her mother (who is still living)... your poem lift their courage and unfathomable suffering into my heart... a place to contemplate not the cruelty so much as compassion for all who are still suffering with no answers to "why?"

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  8. Such a beautiful and interesting poem...

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  9. Yes, one of your best, Pearl. A time in history that has always really hit me in the heart with man's inhumanity to man. Fantastically well written.

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  10. Excellent work in every way, Pearl.

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  11. There seem to be two of us. The human race racing to oblivion and the human being attempting to be at one with the world. We must keep tolling the bell.

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  12. Very, very well done poem. Excellent.

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  13. Use of repetition is so apt here, Pearl.
    Well done focus on this tragic piece of history.

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  14. I suppose this is a cynical response but the question is not why but why does it not happen more often. As you can see my faith in the goodness and compassion of humanity is Zilch. Brilliant poem!

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    1. I want to respectively respond to all these very gratefully appreciated responses - yet this one caught my eye and demanded immediacy of action: I don't think you're cynical at all to wonder "why does it not happen more often"? ... In factI think that the opposite of your conclusion is more accurate - IMHO it does not happen more often because people are NOT by nature inherently evil and filled with the 'banality' of lack of thought and compassion - if they were such attrocities would be commonplace. Just a thought for your consideration - you may be far less cyncial than you believe. Thank you for your wonderfully kind comment.

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  15. good poem and good images out there by the tracks

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  16. Pearl you have such a way with words hopeful yet the menace crawls underneath

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