There is a blog called Every Photo Tells a Story. Each day a new image is posted, and readers are encouraged to write something based on that visual prompt. The creator of the blog writes, “If you want inspiration to write or create, or if you enjoy beautiful photography and art, then you've found the right place!” She contacted me recently to get permission to use one of my photographs as a tool to inspire her readers/writers. I was really moved by the poems submitted. The image she chose was “Solitary Confinement Room, Auschwitz” a picture from my series, “Among the Ashes.” Here are three poems written by her readers.
GHOSTS by James Parker
A vile and bitter darkness
Dwells within these walls.
A vestige of past evils
That shocks us and appalls.
Auschwitz now stands silent,
Its cells like empty wombs.
The ghost of horror and despair
And shame it now entombs
Cries of utter hopelessness,
Born of mortal fears
Arose to a crescendo,
But fell on deafened ears
A blinded world stood idly by,
Midst the suffering and pain
A haunting question taunts us now,
Is it happening again?
PROOF by Therese L. Broderick
three times
the priest
denies
an Auschwitz
window's
three iron bars
Untitled by MIchael
You've been out there?
You've seen out there?
You've smelled the waste? The fear?
Racks of bones are made to toil,
Digging roots from frozen soil.
Sleepless nights in louse-filled bunks.
Scraps of food in cold grey lumps.
Endless coughing through the night.
Every sound is cause for fright.
They think that it's a punishment in here...
