Kathryn Levy: Remembrance

Old Town/Jewish Quarter/Schindler’s Factory

for Robert Pinsky

Factory for making
the rags come to life.

Life that’s embalmed,
life of the dolls

shoved in a corner—who
seem to be staring.

“But those are the faces
of the ones who can’t stare.”

Factory for trembling
as a visitor asks,

“Where is the bathroom?”
Factory for cleansing what

can never be cleansed.
“No bathrooms here, you have

to wait till we’re out.”—“Out?
Out to where?” The guide

shuts her red eyes: “I don’t
know anymore—just—out—.“

~~~

Salvation

Go up to the attic
to find your old doll—crawl
toward a corner to
pretend you’re a child.
Climb up—don’t falter—
there is smoke still rising
from the far off places
where the dead keep squirming.
Go up with a prayerbook, a tiny
fistful of flowers
and find the right vase,
paint the clear pictures
and try not to listen
to the TV set forever
blaring downstairs: The
smoke can’t stop rising
from the concrete chimneys.
Look—a little ash still
clings to your feet
even up here in
the safest corner
of your bolted home.
Search in the prayerbook
for the words you love and
chant them and chant them
—and hang
onto your God (the God who flew
straight up the chimney)—he needs
all the help
he can get.
 

Copyright 2024 Kathryn Levy.

Kathryn Levy is a poet and activist. Her books include Reports (New Rivers Press, 2013) and Losing the Moon (Canio’s Editions, 2006).

Note: Oskar Schindler ( 1908-1974) was a German member of the Nazi Party who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories in occupied Poland and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. He is the subject of the 1982 novel Schindler’s Ark and its 1993 film adaptation, Schindler’s List, which reflected his life as an opportunist initially motivated by profit who came to show extraordinary initiative, tenacity, courage, and dedication in saving his Jewish employees’ lives.

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