OMG! Rolando!! I could feel my heartbeat accelerate, and my breathing get shallower, and my whole body tense up as I was reading... not knowing what it was all about ... long before I got to the last word, which reveals everything.
Stunning poem about a horrific pile. So well written
Hi Veronika. Thank you so much. Your words means a lot. I can tell you that I wrote that poem when it was 7 in the morning in my country, Portugal. Since then I've felt an enormous weight in my chest, almost as if the words were stuck in my throat. I felt that this poem was very powerful
Incredibly powerful! I get the sense that you might need some cathartic writing after such a piece ~ or perhaps it came through you because of this practice?
I could definitely feel that weight on my chest too.
I'm not surprised you felt an ache in your soul, Rolando, when you had finished writing this because the title, the words, and even the illustration are all disturbing in themselves, and probably come from some dark place in the collective human consciousness. Just looking at the illustration alone, one is reminded of corpses hurriedly and uncaringly buried. So perhaps the mounds represent the victims of war. That's the very first thought. Then we go to the poem itself, and from the very first line, every detail - the smell of decaying or burning bodies - the abandoned piles of clothes or hair - all lead us directly to unmarked graves in Auschwitz. So 'Mounds' is essentially a poem about the horrors of war, and mental and physical marks it leaves on mankind in its aftermath. But what makes this poem so unnerving is that very similar horrors are happening right now in Gaza and Ukraine, while certain leaders go unperturbed by it all. That's the most disturbing thing of all, and what makes this a powerful poem!
Rolando, your poem is profoundly moving! In seventy words, you capture the weight of history and the loss of Auschwitz with such haunting imagery. The ache you felt lingers, a poignant reminder to 'never forget'. Thank you so much for sharing.
OMG! Rolando!! I could feel my heartbeat accelerate, and my breathing get shallower, and my whole body tense up as I was reading... not knowing what it was all about ... long before I got to the last word, which reveals everything.
Stunning poem about a horrific pile. So well written
Hi Veronika. Thank you so much. Your words means a lot. I can tell you that I wrote that poem when it was 7 in the morning in my country, Portugal. Since then I've felt an enormous weight in my chest, almost as if the words were stuck in my throat. I felt that this poem was very powerful
Incredibly powerful! I get the sense that you might need some cathartic writing after such a piece ~ or perhaps it came through you because of this practice?
I could definitely feel that weight on my chest too.
Chilling and haunting 💙
Thank-you Grace
Powerful
Your poetry is so powerful. Thank you Rolando.
Thank you Donna for your kind words
Thank you for restacking @Paul Wittenberger
I'm not surprised you felt an ache in your soul, Rolando, when you had finished writing this because the title, the words, and even the illustration are all disturbing in themselves, and probably come from some dark place in the collective human consciousness. Just looking at the illustration alone, one is reminded of corpses hurriedly and uncaringly buried. So perhaps the mounds represent the victims of war. That's the very first thought. Then we go to the poem itself, and from the very first line, every detail - the smell of decaying or burning bodies - the abandoned piles of clothes or hair - all lead us directly to unmarked graves in Auschwitz. So 'Mounds' is essentially a poem about the horrors of war, and mental and physical marks it leaves on mankind in its aftermath. But what makes this poem so unnerving is that very similar horrors are happening right now in Gaza and Ukraine, while certain leaders go unperturbed by it all. That's the most disturbing thing of all, and what makes this a powerful poem!
Rolando, your poem is profoundly moving! In seventy words, you capture the weight of history and the loss of Auschwitz with such haunting imagery. The ache you felt lingers, a poignant reminder to 'never forget'. Thank you so much for sharing.
Wow Rolando! Powerful. Bone deep. Elegy. Keep writing. We need you 🙏❤️