New Book

The new book is "Holocaust Poetry" and I will be moving through it at a fairly fast pace, although still covering just as much as with the first book. This book contains poems from people of all types from the Holocaust, detailing their experiences with it.

The first section is "Alienation." One of the first poems is "First They Came for the Jews" by Pastor Niemoller, which I think I've read before. It speaks of someone who does not defend others when the Nazis come to take them, but then when the Nazis come for them, there is no one left to help them. This is very simple, but also very meaningful. Looking at this section as a whole, it's more than just topics on feeling left out or alienated as the title suggests; it's about other things that make us feel unwanted or unloved. There's also a love poem of sorts, which I wasn't expecting.
The second section of the book is "Persecution." The very first poem is "1940" by Bertolt Brecht, translated by John Willet. It's about a man who has fled the Nazis and escaped to Finland. It's a relatively short poem and doesn't say very much more than that, but it does say "Curiously/ I examine a map of the continent. High up in Lapland/ Towards the Arctic Ocean/ I can still see a small door" (17). In the context of this poem, it seems like this could mean that there is still a portion of the country that could serve as an escape out of Eurpoe, before the Germans take over the entire continent.
There are two poems by David Vogel in the section, both translated by A.C. Jacobs. They are "I Saw My Father Drowning" and "There Is a Last, Solitary Coach." They seem to be connected, both having to deal with the way people approach death and how some accept it, while others fight it.