Winds of Change.NET: Language & Abuse: A Poem

June 26, 2005

Language & Abuse: A Poem

by Guest Author at June 26, 2005 2:23 AM

JK: This one comes from a reader with a long-standing liberal orientation who has had it up to here with some of the recent shennanigans.

Abuse
by "PO'ed Poet"

in the newspaper: 'nazi', 'gulag'
in the kitchen: 'nuke'
in our minds, the words
overused
broken loose from horror
despair, anguish
gas chambers and crematoria
work details in the snow
shadows on blasted brick
molten light; blindness, burning
starvation
suffering amid ashes

when have you been hungry
seen your body emptied of flesh,
risen in rags to labor shoeless
enslaved, in snow,
found yourself burned blinded sick
calling for your children
when?
when?

and, if you have not lived
with horror sharing your bed
death for your bunk mate
risking murder to pray
how dare you use those words
turn them cheap and trivial
wear down the bone of their meaning
to disparage what is merely bad
how dare you bring us closer to forgetting
what evil is
closer to repeating the past

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"Language & Abuse: A Poem"

Tracked: June 26, 2005 3:24 PM

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Excerpt: Winds of Change.NET Abuse by "PO'ed Poet" in the newspaper: 'nazi', 'gulag' in the kitchen: 'nuke' in our minds, the words overused broken loose from horror despair, anguish gas chambers and crematoria work details in the snow shadows on blasted...

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Comments

#1 from Ruth at 10:23 pm on Jun 26, 2005

Thank you dear. I also lost relatives and I also see language loosely relating holocaust victims to present day offenses as a bit over the top. But wait? if I were naked and cold and being asked to betray my family, do I know what my reaction would be. no.

#2 from Tony in WV at 2:38 am on Jun 27, 2005

Probably the most positive thing I can say is that nothing demonstrates the success of Western Civilization better than the utter cluelessness of many of its inhabitants. Where else can a person survive to adulthood, even old age without ever being cold, tired, hungry, or exposed to harsh reality?

Excellent work.

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