Frieda Landau’s poem No Mind a Whetstone appeared here in November 2012.
Small Talk
By Frieda Landau
The crowd in front of the synagogue
Waiting for the holiday service to begin
Talked of this and that:
The best restaurant for fish,
The unseasonable weather,
The latest skirmish with the condo association,
The way the soldiers slit open the bellies
Of very pregnant women to smash the infant,
Sometimes alive, against the nearest wall
Until, like overripe fruit, the head split open
To stain the wall with brains and bones and blood.
Waiting for the holiday service to begin
Talked of this and that:
The best restaurant for fish,
The unseasonable weather,
The latest skirmish with the condo association,
The way the soldiers slit open the bellies
Of very pregnant women to smash the infant,
Sometimes alive, against the nearest wall
Until, like overripe fruit, the head split open
To stain the wall with brains and bones and blood.
Very sad…
Frieda, words cannot express the impact your poem made on me. Your words are POWERFUL. Thank you.
Yikes. How horrible and how real.