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Andrena Zawinski
I have seen Terezin.
A pantoum from Frankie's on the Divisadero in
San Francisco
The sign at Frankie’s Bohemian Cafe reads: We are 6,303 miles from
Prague.
From inside the shadowed corner where I have brambory, rough bread,
Pilsner--
much the same way I did in that sleepy Bohemian bordertown of Terezin--
from here I can still almost hear mothers’ voices, appoggiaturas on the
wind.
From inside the shadowed corner where I have brambory, rough bread,
Pilsner,
I think of children painting flowers sprawling meadows, their butterfly
skies
and still almost hear from here mothers’ voices, appoggiaturas on the
wind.
Now we make a study of this, housefronts tattooed in SS occupation brass
plaques
and of children painting flowers sprawling meadows, their butterfly skies,
quilts’ large folds feather-soft daily airing our sins across an opened
window ledge.
Now we make a study of this, housefronts tattooed in SS occupation brass
plaques,
across the way the Camp’s mass grave’s numbered markers bedding down
in roses,
quilts’ large folds feather-soft airing our sins across an opened window
ledge,
the gallows wreathed in candles, slips of prayers tucked beneath rings of
stones.
Across the road a grave of numbered markers beds down below a blanket of
roses
for ones who hung at the Gate of Death. I have walked camp tunnels from
the cells
to the gallows wreathed in candles, slipped prayers beneath the rings of
stones,
jumping at my own shadow darting behind and before me, at how horror
twists it,
for those who hung at the Gate of Death. I have walked camp tunnels from
the cells,
dark angels taunting me with voices and plaques, quilts and roses,
butterfly skies,
jumping at my own shadow darting behind and before me, at how horror
twists it--
the same way I did neatly squared walkways in the sleepy bordertown of
Terezin--
its dark angels taunting me with voices and plaques, quilts and roses,
butterfly skies,
while the sign at Frankie’s Bohemian Cafe reads: We are 6,303 miles
from Prague.
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“I Have Seen Terezin” first appeared in The
Comstock Review 15:1.
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