Friday, April 1, 2011

Poem for Shabbat

Krakow Yizkor Book
Earlier this week I was reading the Arts & Academe blog at the Chronicle of Higher Education, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful Jewish poem, Erika Meitner's "Yizker Bukh." 

Yizkor books (The poem title uses the Yiddish spelling.) were created by Holocaust survivors to preserve the memory of the Jews and Jewish communities of Europe.  Working from memory, survivors would record the history of a village or town, often going back hundreds of years.  They would describe families - all the relationships, births, deaths, and weddings - as best they could.  The books include recollections of businesses, important events, and daily life.  Many describe the destruction of the community during the Holocaust.  They list and memorialize those who were killed.  (Read some yizkor books online here.)

Meitner's poem is a reflection on her grief after the death of her grandmother, who was a Holocaust survivor.  I find it quite moving ("Memory is / ... / an animal with- / out a leash"), despite the fact that the rabbi in the poem is pretty obtuse.

For Discussion: Varying the length of the lines, the poet creates a very intentional shape for the poem on the page (or screen).  How does this shape contribute to the meaning of the poem?