Sunday Scribblings posted the prompt, “raw.” Doesn’t get much rawer than this. Never forget. Amy
Raw Nerve
When paneled vans began patrolling towns
in 1930s Germany, offering rides to vagrants,
making house calls on parent
of oddly-formed children,
no one seemed to notice.
No one cared.
When, street by street, whole families of Jews
“moved on” in the middle of the night,
it just have been to another town,
thought the good townspeople.
And though they would miss
Mrs. Weiss’s braided breads,
no one cared.
When each morning smokestacks rained
strange white ash on village streets,
people whispered, but no one spoke aloud.
No one cared.
When swastikas and crosses blurred in symbolism,
the good Christians didn’t think twice.
No one cared.
The secret to brutal injustice,
to tyranny and genocide,
hinges on this:
The majority’s apathy.
No one cared,
much less dared to ask
what the hell was going on.
© 2010 Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil
Sharp Little Pencil 
Madeleine Begun Kane
Outstanding!
Sharp Little Pencil
Thanks, Madelene. Hard to write… must find humor… must find humor….!!
Madeleine Begun Kane
That was outstanding. It was raw, and it needed to be raw.
Debbie
Crying . . .as I should be. Thank you for that, for poems that move us, change us, make us care.
Sharp Little Pencil
Debbie, I feel a twinge of guilt for making you cry, but then againn, women are gifted with tears, while men are discouraged from them. So I guess it’s a good thing, right?
Altonian
Strange, I was commenting to my wife only a few days ago that these events should be regularly published as a constant reminder of what happened in the past, and what could easily happen again. I think you and I are on the same wavelength Amy, I’m glad you posted this. Leigh.
Sharp Little Pencil
We are indeed on the same wavelength much of the time, Leigh. Thanks so much for this comment, nice to know when I connect!
Christine
Tyranny rains everywhere, every culture, every religion, every groups of people we are like a pack of dogs. Sometimes I stay in my house and try not to meet up with people for a day or two. I know this is not right either. We need to watch we need to speak up we need to be voice for the voiceless. Raw indeed Amy.
Sharp Little Pencil
We do what we can when we can. I’ve always been vocal… maybe enough for both of us!
ladynimue
I like your writing for being so honest and strong enoguht to hit hard the thoguhts and feelings !
Yes, injustice breeds when NO one cares to talk !
Sharp Little Pencil
It’s the way of the world, especially among the “I’ve got mine” crowd…
Kim Nelson
Amy~
On the morning of my 18th birthday, now legally able to access my own “permanent” records, I pored through the files kept on me since kindergarten.
I cried, alone there in the basement of the school district admin building, when I discovered that no one – NOT 1! – documented anything that they must have know took place.
I climbed the stairs, walked home, and determined to take really good care of myself, because nobody else was going to.
Sharp Little Pencil
Oh, Kim, this is so sad. You know, when I got my permanent records, my mom told me to burn them, so I did. Honestly. Amazing how much control she had over me in those days.
Good for your for determining your own course! Love, Amy
Sherry Blue Sky
This is viscerally powerful, agonizing and, sadly, all too true. Humans are still frogs sitting in the pot of water that is rapidly heating up…….apathetic, stunned, apparently unable to leap up and turn the tide towards sanity and justice. Sigh. Keep writing, Amy. Your words are powerful.
Sharp Little Pencil
Sherry, as one frog who just hopped into the already boiling water a month ago, I am raising hell about this issue! Surprising, I know, since I am usually such a wallflower… NOT.
Vinay
hmm, you’r right, Amy.. doesn’t get more raw than that.. Auschwitz was the thought that came into mind..powerful.. esp that last two verse..
Vinay @ I Rhyme Without Reason
Sharp Little Pencil
Vinay, good eye. My daughter’s Oma survived Auschwitz, but the psychic cost was huge.
Thank you SO MUCH for supplying the link. Made it easy to get to your blog in the place I wanted to be… Amy
Altonian
And another thing: Thanks for your mail commenting on my post. Let’s say it was 98% true, the waiters name was not Mario, and the idiot was not Nigel.
Sharp Little Pencil
But I thought most idiots had names like Nigel. Or was it Ralph? (My apologies to Nigels and Ralphs everywhere. Quite insensitive of me!)
Carl
This is dense and packed with challenges. It makes me ask where the same sorts of things going on in my country, state, county, city/town right now. How well do I know my neighbors? If something happened to them, would I know or care? Do I really know what’s going on outside the bounds of my own property? If something was really moving, really changing for the worse, if the things that matter to me were really being twisted to mean something destructive, would I care?
I guess I’m stunned.
Thanks, Amy.
Sharp Little Pencil
Carl, I will email you my thoughts, as you have obviously considered this carefully. Thanks for your kind words. Amy
booguloo
More and more kippahs are being seen in So Cal. these days. Read or Reread “The Sneetches and other stories” by Dr. Seuss. A great book for the churches nurseries.
Sharp Little Pencil
Thanks for the tip, Michael. We are a Christmas tree and menorah family, plus we are into learning more about Kwanzaa, although none in my family are African American… let’s face it, we all come from Africa!
RJ Clarken
This poem gives me the chills. I saw a movie once (in Sunday school) when I was a little girl about the ‘camps’ and it still haunts me to this day. It really was (and is) the stuff of nightmares.
Sharp Little Pencil
I was raised by my Irish-American mom that, should anything like this happen, it was my duty to take action. To notice. To speak out. Her frankness about both her experiences during the American Depression of the 30s, the racism her black band members faced, and others’ hell during the Holocaust helped shape my early activism.
Jae Rose
Sorry Amy – Can’t believe it took me almost a week to visit your post..I am so glad I finally got here though. Your poem was sobering. If only people were as ‘raw’ in their analysis then..the way you take us in via the very human/everyday details (‘Mrs Weiss’s braided breads’)..made it all the more powerful..Jae
Sharp Little Pencil
Jae, the word jumped out at me and screamed the name of my former husband’s mom, may she finally rest in peace. She escaped during a forced march between Auschwitz and Bergen-Belzen, ate the bark off trees for two weeks until the Liberation. Thank you so much for this insightful, generous comment. Amy