Lily Brett was born in Germany,educated in Australia and has been living in New York for the
past twenty years.This is a purist patchwork cento based on her fifth collection of poetry
Strapless Dresses and Mud in My Tears
As a child I remember seeing blue numbers on arms.I don't see them anymore.
RWP Mini Challenge#1 ..Poets We Love
Blue Tattoos
I was living an ordinary life
sometimes I sweat and my eyes weep
I boil beetroots and slip off their skin
I feel happy I look up and I see Hitler
I stood and twitched from side to side
Sometimes he grabs me in the kitchen
Watch it Fritz
I can bench press eighty pounds
and squat with two hundred
I was fearless when I lived in Carlton
In Melbourne Australia should I say
guten tag guten abend
I tell myself I am a wife a mother and a poet
I didn't mention I was Jewish to my children
I married an Aryan
as blonde an Aryan as I could get
Tattooed blue numbers -children thought they
were phone numbers
I am the daughter
I am the daughter
born after the war
There were fifteen thousand pounds of hair
left behind in Auschwitz
was God taking a holiday on that day
was he in the Carribean
I took teatowels
At least thirty of them
Her face was drained again
A wilted hibiscus
Hi Rall,
ReplyDeleteI don't know anything about this poet, other than what you have said, or her poetry but you have produced a poignant creation from her lines.
you've created quite a narrative! amazing!
ReplyDeleteAnother cento that seems utterly of a piece, not patched together at all -- and a very powerful one too -- great job, really. I got goosebumps.
ReplyDeleteThanks Marie
ReplyDeleteWow! Now that is so powerful it does give you gooseflesh! I don't know this poet either but she is a great choice.
ReplyDeletePamela
Thanks Pamela .I know you would love Lily Brett's poetry especially the collection I used.I also love Bukowski.I would have done him if you hadn't.
ReplyDeleteMy God. I know nothing about the poet, but I admire the way you pieced her lines together. The way you did it renders a piece with very vivid imagery, with almost a bitter and nightmarish quality to it in some spots. Well done.
ReplyDelete-Nicole