Lurid Light

These poems were written in the summer 2003 after a visit to the former concentration camp Mauthausen, the largest in Austria, which is now a memorial place.

Mauthausen -
above us    
the same sun



smmer air   
a farmer dungs his field   
beside the camp



the dark summer sun   
the dark summer sun   
in the shacks


the child's eyes green beyond the barbed wire


a sign    
in front of the crematorium   
“please don’t smoke”



lurid light   
the snow-white tiles   
of the gas chamber



gas chamber   
a man lifts up  
his child



breath of wind   
the memorials  
speak


someone laughs on the way to the quarry



death’s stairway   
step by step   
more out of breath




leaving the camp  
the car chased   
by dust



Mauthausen   
at the Danube bank   
two lovers