A HISTORY LESSON

from the stark white pages
of the history book
stabs a knobby white finger
an ugly finger
an Aryan finger
your finger
pointing through the ages
accusing my soul
that i share blood with you
so that i want to be purged of it
accusing my soul
that my skin is white
so that i want to squirm out of it
for i wear it like a bloody A upon my chest
Aryan
Auschwitz
annihilation
it condemns my conscience now
that which would have spared me then
yes you would not have touched me
for my cursed snowy skin
but you did not cry
for my Jewish brother
for my gypsy sister
when their ashes fell from the sky like soiled snowflakes
and hung in your stifled mustache like burning icicles
you breathed them in
you carried them down
and now they watch you burn
as they burned for you
and they do not cry

by Andrea W., Eau Claire, WI