6 Million lost souls and 60 happy teenagers

a poem about my time in Berlin.

I am writing this poem 

                        with an ordinary pen.

Black ink runs down to the tip of the writing tool.

                                   blood shoots to the tips of my fingers.

The pen and my right hand amalgamate into each other.

                                           we are united, we are one, we are a living organism.

                    One brain.....one pen.....one piece of paper.....

                      one poem.

I am looking at the youth of Berlin!

groups of teenagers are running through the holocaust memorial. They are playing tag, laughing, screaming with joy.....67 years before, 6 million screamed also....but that time it was not with joy, but with anguish .

         

The pen and my right hand amalgamate into each other.

                                           we are united, we are one, we are a living organism.

 ©LukeRitta

Reviews

[Enigma]

Interesting. I somehow like the abrupt shift in the scene. It is like gazing at the paper and contemplating and then raising your eyes up to gaze at the teenagers and look back at the past. Then transporting back to the present -to the teenagers, and your pen. Well penned. :)

[Shellie]

I love this. I love the way you pick one moment from now, and attach it to a moment from the past..and those words resonated even onto the next verse. Just very good.

[Writingfox]

I really like this, it sometimes seems ink on paper is a lifeblood of its own. Beautiful and transfixing. To then looking up and seeing such irreverence. It's a shame. Especially after the soulless acts that that place memorializes

[Alicia Schroeder]

I'm at a loss for words.. Great poem :)

[TheSweet]

Hmm, It's probably just me - but I'm not so sure about this poem. I think I see the idea - which is a good write, but the historical bit seem so abbarant from the writing with the pen that it seems misplaced to me. As if I started reading a diiferent poem in the middle. That being said, the hand and pen part has a nice feel to it :P Thanks for sharing.

[Reeti]

it is an interesting aspect that history has been written by man and his pen from centuries unto centuries with their different time's ordeals and obstacles. i really like the contrast you have made concerning the pen with the fingers in the second stanza. The pungent imagery denotes how our fingers have been flanked by pens for so very long. It's an enjoyable read.

[SHEEMA HUQ]

I like the confluence between 'self' and 'significant human events' emersed in a concise poem. Please take a look at -This One Page - doesn't refer to borader humanitarianism but has some simialr traits perhaps. Sheema

[S. Michael Long]

there is a tablet in front of one of the holocaust memorials that has one phrase in like 6 different languages.. cant remember what the phrase was exactly.. but i think the phrase would add power or poignancy to an already well thought out and much needed expression of what has happened, and why it should never happen again..

[S. Michael Long]

I love it.. but.. it seems to me this is a force for pretty things.. and never quite personifies the evil that took place, i'm not saying go into the evil that took place, but perhaps emphasize the negativity, so that the youth aspect will hold more value as a whole.. Very well done.. adding to my shelf (: -s

[Aarontastic]

I have mixed feelings about this. First of all, I love the title: it hints at the subject matter in a witty way and very much got my attention. But I was surprised; after the memorable title the first thing that you open up with is a description of you writing a poem. It's not that it was a bad description, just that it felt incongruous--I expected something really intense right out of the opening that had a more explicit it connection with the subject. Fortunately, the middle stanza lived up to that expectation, describing the scene at the memorial and highlighting the twisted irony of it. However, it seems like you only just scratched the surface of that focus of the poem before reiterating the process of you writing one in the last stanza. It was sort of anticlimactic to me overall; I think it would be better if you excised the first and last stanzas and fleshed out the middle part more, because that's the essence of this poem right? Anyway just my feeling, I like your style but I always find myself wishing you expanded a bit more on thigs.

[Victorious]

Dear Luke Ritta,

Interesting. I find myself rereading this. History is indeed a tool for writing as it entwines/unites with writing like one or like a "living organism." You have transitioned through times in one piece of writing. This poem is most like eyes though. As Engimatic Soul said, raising your eyes to the present, then looking back.

Thanks for sharing.

Sincerely Livana Lowell (LL)

God bless