Exceptional In memory of the six million Ashes of the Shoah by Navada Free Verse Poem contest entry

there are dozens of them throughout eastern europe i haven’t seen them with my own eyes i’ve only felt them in my dreams   rough, rude gashes slashed in overgrown forests mute monuments to the inhumanity of man wastelands that pollute the soul   ~   grey flakes cling to my toes barren and lifeless like the ashes that tumbled from the sky as chimneys choked and the blazing night sky faded to black   rusty remnants of barbed wire rotting remains frozen in wordless admonition guard towers stand like impotent sentries with no-one left to watch   ~   these wastelands echo throughout infamy memorials loom around their crumbling perimeters lists of the lost in numbers that numb the mind   some feature misshapen sculptures twisted stone silhouettes of torture shrieking in silent agony and begging for release   ~   standing here all alone in my dreams the cold wind assaults me and a chill creeps over my flesh their blood cries out from the soil   demanding vengeance pleading for remembrance weeping inconsolably for all that was lost Recognized Author Notes "Shoah is the Hebrew word for "catastrophe". This term specifically means the killing of nearly six million Jews in Europe by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during the Second World War. English-speaking countries more commonly use the word Holocaust, which is Greek for "sacrifice by fire"." Source: https://www.memorialdelashoah.org/en/archives-and-documentation/what-is-the-shoah.html This poem was written several years ago, but recent events have brought it to mind once more. I've chosen to avoid capitalisation to emphasise the rawness and horror of the subject.

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