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posted August 2010 from the manuscript-in-progress Painting Czeslawa Kwoka Honoring Children of the Holocaust poems by Theresa Senato Edwards paintings by Lori Schreiner     I will die at night no, I try to speak my voice cold as roots I try to speak in camp soldiers tug at stripes—what      does      that       mean      to       me?       mouth—lips—mouth—lips        stripes, black/grey stripes        head positioned like a relic             no,        I        try        to speak soldiers undress my soul, can you see it?        take it from me? Jehovah holds my chin against a lightly tilted air. I want to speak but will have no mouth, night catches voice, holds it till morning. I will die at night        Ik zal sterven 's nachts I will breathe slowly through shadows,          camera          flash       numbs until I see again.            I want to move— n o t                 a             t w I t c h like death not a fluff of hair.       Photo of Deliana Rademakers, Holocaust victim, used with permission from the archival collection of the State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim.

all contents © copyright 2010, Theresa Senato Edwards (poems), Lori Schreiner (art), U.S. Holocaust Memorial (photos) / design by Noah Saterstrom