Timmy's Journal - 55. The Evidence Room - a haibun

One of the most powerful poems I've ever read. Gave me chills, a lump in my throat, and - yes - tears at the back of my eyes.

This line:

Have the door open outward not in

So the dead do not interfere with the economic disposal

Of themselves

And this line:

Because some do not believe

And on top of the horror here

That

is

the worst of it.

And, well, the entire Haibun poem.

Never silence your pen, boy. The world benefits from what you have to say.

You capture the ease with which we might encounter the Evidence Room, strolling in from one interesting exhibit to this. But we are captured, caught in the Evidence Room as easily as the victims you write about. 

This is a magnificent poem; @MacGreg highlighted two standout lines, and I will point out two others:  

It is quiet; ghostly

Yet I want to cover my ears

Block out their voices

For it seems they still need to be heard

And

after the screaming stopped, all in the time most of us have breaks at our jobs, 15 minutes

This poem is powerful and important. Thank you for posting it. 

Extremely powerful. Evokes so many emotions. Hard to comprehend the cruelty found in humanity.

Damn, tim. I’m shook. 

‘So the dead do not interfere with the economic disposal

Of themselves’

That line hit me the hardest. This whole poem...powerful. Thank you. 

2 hours ago, MacGreg said:

One of the most powerful poems I've ever read. Gave me chills, a lump in my throat, and - yes - tears at the back of my eyes.

 

This line:

Have the door open outward not in

So the dead do not interfere with the economic disposal

Of themselves

 

And this line:

Because some do not believe

And on top of the horror here

That

is

the worst of it.

 

And, well, the entire Haibun poem.

 

Never silence your pen, boy. The world benefits from what you have to say.

yes, Sir ... thank You for Your comments and Your reaction ... xo

2 hours ago, Reader1810 said:

I have no words...

 

no ... it's a difficult subject ...thanks Reader xo

2 hours ago, Parker Owens said:

You capture the ease with which we might encounter the Evidence Room, strolling in from one interesting exhibit to this. But we are captured, caught in the Evidence Room as easily as the victims you write about. 

 

This is a magnificent poem; @MacGreg highlighted two standout lines, and I will point out two others:  

 

It is quiet; ghostly

Yet I want to cover my ears

Block out their voices

For it seems they still need to be heard

 

And

 

after the screaming stopped, all in the time most of us have breaks at our jobs, 15 minutes

 

This poem is powerful and important. Thank you for posting it. 

thank you Parker ... the use of white and the plaster is effective, haunting. and the hand written plans and instructions on the blue prints .. i cannot imagine writing them, i just cannot.

xo

1 hour ago, BlindAmbition said:

Extremely powerful. Evokes so many emotions. Hard to comprehend the cruelty found in humanity.

it is hard to comprehend ... thank you jp

1 hour ago, Defiance19 said:

Damn, tim. I’m shook. 

 

‘So the dead do not interfere with the economic disposal

Of themselves’

 

That line hit me the hardest. This whole poem...powerful. Thank you. 

 

 

thank you Def ... it was all economics, efficiency .. in The Relief of Belsen, when a female patient in the British hospital was approached with a syringe she started to scream ... because the victims in the death camps were given shots of benzene so they would burn more efficiently later.  Monsters.

I had learned if much if this when I was in HS. One if my history teachers was a WWII vet. We read about the need on the parts of the camps to be as efficient as possible because there were so many to be "eliminated." Eliminated! These people were slaughtered ...

Thank you little brother for sharing this experience through your words.

I was with tim this day. I knew he wanted to be alone, but in that room, even with others near, you are alone. Facing the door from the victims and the guards sides, the hatch in the wall, they were hard to look at, and the gas column. Only one but in the real room, there were four. And had to be warm over 80f in there so the gas would work efficiently.  The thought and planning that went into these chambers, and after, the elevator to move the bodies to the incinerators, dear God.  And they knew the ones that drew them, they couldn't not. 

See it if you have the opportunity, but be prepared to be overwhelmed. Have a hand to hold when you leave. 

tim this piece is among your best. you did not ignore their pleas to be heard. xo

28 minutes ago, dughlas said:

I had learned if much if this when I was in HS. One if my history teachers was a WWII vet. We read about the need on the parts of the camps to be as efficient as possible because there were so many to be "eliminated." Eliminated! These people were slaughtered ...

Thank you little brother for sharing this experience through your words.

thanks dugh ... i read something saying they never said straight out on paper what they were doing, that orders were verbal or they used code ... so we aren't talking innocents here are we?

21 minutes ago, MichaelS36 said:

I was with tim this day. I knew he wanted to be alone, but in that room, even with others near, you are alone. Facing the door from the victims and the guards sides, the hatch in the wall, they were hard to look at, and the gas column. Only one but in the real room, there were four. And had to be warm over 80f in there so the gas would work efficiently.  The thought and planning that went into these chambers, and after, the elevator to move the bodies to the incinerators, dear God.  And they knew the ones that drew them, they couldn't not. 

 

See it if you have the opportunity, but be prepared to be overwhelmed. Have a hand to hold when you leave. 

 

tim this piece is among your best. you did not ignore their pleas to be heard. xo

it was hard to see, to touch things, and i knew i could walk out of there, but it was very emotional. i do not know how you can be human and deny it.  i'm glad you were there with me, Michael xo

Incredibly powerful poem. You handled the subject matter with directness and an unflinching tenderness. For me, that particular combinations marks your poetic style. This is incredible to read, and naturally - once a poet, always a poet. I did not doubt that you'd be writing when and where you needed to  

Thank you for sharing your gift with us.

13 minutes ago, Reader1810 said:

 

After reading tim’s words, I thought I should see this for myself, but I’m not so sure. I went to the Pompeii exhibit when it was at the ROM in 2015. While the devastation wasn’t manmade, it was still hard to see knowing the plaster casts were once real people.

 

 tim’s words are hard to read, but they should be because what happened and the people it happened to, should never be forgotten. 

yes..that would be hard  ... there are no people, no pictures, you can see what there is in the link... but you know... and for me that was enough and the longer i stood there, the harder it got.  There is a person in there, who you can talk to, if you want to. Or she simply leaves you alone.. if id have said a word, it would have been in tears ... i couldn't speak to Michael until we'd moved on to look at Modern Design.