Auschwitz: Second Generation
"Smoke and Memory" by Cynthia Moskowitz Brody
Auschwitz: Second Generation
Cynthia Moskowitz Brody
To my mother, Hermina Moskowitz, who tries so hard to live in the present.
I can recall it now
that sickened sinking
weight within me
when she spoke of
that time in her life
and she'd almost smile as if to
soothe me as if to say
It's only a movie
except it wasn't
and it's sleeping in her somewhere
and used to scream out
in my dreams
They shaved her head of course
something about lice or dirt
among so many
and
they
lined
up
naked
daily
and he'd smile at her
that man whose game
it was to choose
the timber for the day
So she could live for awhile
not like her sisters
and their children who went
wide eyed
and were gone
Now she'll squeeze her bulging middle
and laugh that even then
she had this extra flesh
and how it kept her from the ovens
She says
they smelled it
in the air
the smell
of those they loved
but she wouldn't believe it and she worked
leaving fear and hope
among her other belongings
in the heap
And though they didn't brand her skin
she wears her numbers
in her eyes