deepundergroundpoetry.com
SIX MILLION CHRISTS
those six million plus who wore Christ's fragile form
and let his woeful eyes watch from the gates of Auschwitz,
his bones scorched and hallowed in trenches,
haunting from dusty books, those hazed grey images
that repel yet beg for the study of wasted flesh and desperate want
and the horror of man's dark truth
his holy voice a rasp and whisper barely discernible above the fray of politics
asking if you who can only watch tributes to those long dead
would have stood against the tide of hate that carried so much hell
and let his woeful eyes watch from the gates of Auschwitz,
his bones scorched and hallowed in trenches,
haunting from dusty books, those hazed grey images
that repel yet beg for the study of wasted flesh and desperate want
and the horror of man's dark truth
his holy voice a rasp and whisper barely discernible above the fray of politics
asking if you who can only watch tributes to those long dead
would have stood against the tide of hate that carried so much hell
Published 28th Jan 2021
Author's Note
I ask myself that question about the antebellum south (and post "reconstruction" South Carolina) -- would I have simply tolerated or even participated in the horrors inflicted on black people? Racism was the zeitgiest, and I think only the best, strongest hearts and minds resisted or saw beyond it. We can all see the injustice now, but would I have seen it then? Had I been a working man in Germany in 1939 would I have seen it for what it was and would I have had the courage to act against it, or would I have fallen in line? Sometimes I like my answer, but sometimes I don't.
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29th Jan 2021 10:03pm
So...I'm commenting on my own poem.
It's interesting sometimes how when I really like a poem it doesn't impress. Some poems I'm not too crazy about seem to make an impact. That explains a lot about publishing (or not getting published). I should sent out pieces I'm not crazy about.
The main thing I liked about this poem is this idea of Christ, actually Jesus. Christ and Jesus are, of course, synonymous, right? In conversation I might say I don't even know if I believe that the man Jesus existed. But grew up very Catholic, and Jesus made an impact on me as a kid, especially Jesus on the cross. Crucifixes were everywhere, and I was fascinated by them. Especially by the almost life sized one in my church vestibule. That Jesus was so pale and thin and beautiful in his misery, and I swear I loved him. When I think of Jesus, I think of that sculpture -- the suffering Jesus.
I had written this poem before I thought, well, religious Jewish people don't believe in Jesus either. I wondered if it would be offensive to a religious Jewish person, comparing holocaust victims to Jesus. Then I thought about Leonard Cohen. Not that my poem is anywhere near something Leonard would have written, but how much I loved those lines in Suzanne...I played that song over and over just for that verse about Jesus. Because Leonard understood Jesus somehow -- the poetry of the suffering Jesus. The beauty of it. I always thought Matthew Shepherd was like Jesus, the way they strung that boy up on a fence. Any innocent soul that suffers at the hand of evil reminds me of Jesus.
Anyway, I just wanted to express these things about that poem, which may just be a bad, pretentious poem.
Thanks.
It's interesting sometimes how when I really like a poem it doesn't impress. Some poems I'm not too crazy about seem to make an impact. That explains a lot about publishing (or not getting published). I should sent out pieces I'm not crazy about.
The main thing I liked about this poem is this idea of Christ, actually Jesus. Christ and Jesus are, of course, synonymous, right? In conversation I might say I don't even know if I believe that the man Jesus existed. But grew up very Catholic, and Jesus made an impact on me as a kid, especially Jesus on the cross. Crucifixes were everywhere, and I was fascinated by them. Especially by the almost life sized one in my church vestibule. That Jesus was so pale and thin and beautiful in his misery, and I swear I loved him. When I think of Jesus, I think of that sculpture -- the suffering Jesus.
I had written this poem before I thought, well, religious Jewish people don't believe in Jesus either. I wondered if it would be offensive to a religious Jewish person, comparing holocaust victims to Jesus. Then I thought about Leonard Cohen. Not that my poem is anywhere near something Leonard would have written, but how much I loved those lines in Suzanne...I played that song over and over just for that verse about Jesus. Because Leonard understood Jesus somehow -- the poetry of the suffering Jesus. The beauty of it. I always thought Matthew Shepherd was like Jesus, the way they strung that boy up on a fence. Any innocent soul that suffers at the hand of evil reminds me of Jesus.
Anyway, I just wanted to express these things about that poem, which may just be a bad, pretentious poem.
Thanks.
Anonymous
29th Jan 2021 11:02pm
Hi Javalini. This poem poked, provoked and prodded me in all the right spots...including your own comment and authors note. I love the title, its expansion of something thought of as a given... to be given to one man only,....that interior line, of LC's understanding of the catholic Jesus's Christhood which is of total empathy and love because I don't think for a Jewish person, Jesus and Christ are synonymous. He existed, but not as a messiah.
Secondly from your authors note, which is so valid and vital at these times, because I think these things are happening right now. I do not know how many wars the West (corporate or governmental) are involved in cause for resources and slave labor. We sit right now letting horror happen for another for our ease and lifestyle. It is unrelentless this struggle.
I just wanted to get these things off my back a little...your poem does what great writing should...which is to get someone motivated enough to respond. and react.
Secondly from your authors note, which is so valid and vital at these times, because I think these things are happening right now. I do not know how many wars the West (corporate or governmental) are involved in cause for resources and slave labor. We sit right now letting horror happen for another for our ease and lifestyle. It is unrelentless this struggle.
I just wanted to get these things off my back a little...your poem does what great writing should...which is to get someone motivated enough to respond. and react.
30th Jan 2021 3:20pm
nomoth, thanks so much for your thoughtful comments and kind words.
You are so right that suffering is going on all around us. We are so distracted by the BS that pours in from every direction that it's difficult to see it.
I say "BS" is the problem -- political and otherwise (which is all addicting) -- but also just keeping our heads above water in this cultural clime.
It may a psychological gift to be distracted.
It might kill us to dwell on the truth.
* "...Jesus and christ are synonymous, right?..."
I tried substituting the name Jesus for the word Christ, but that didn't work at all -- SIX MILLION JESUSES
Thank you again.
I truly appreciated your comments.
J.
You are so right that suffering is going on all around us. We are so distracted by the BS that pours in from every direction that it's difficult to see it.
I say "BS" is the problem -- political and otherwise (which is all addicting) -- but also just keeping our heads above water in this cultural clime.
It may a psychological gift to be distracted.
It might kill us to dwell on the truth.
* "...Jesus and christ are synonymous, right?..."
I tried substituting the name Jesus for the word Christ, but that didn't work at all -- SIX MILLION JESUSES
Thank you again.
I truly appreciated your comments.
J.
