Concrete doubt

Upon reading Ted Kniffen's poem Doubt. http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/Tedk1946/1732120/

Violet grew up in the disputed land on a kibbutz far removed from the place of numbered ancestors.
She was never deeply religious, but she believed she believed. When she got older, she had occasion
to travel. On a cold winter day she stood in a pit in Poland, reading the writing scratched in Hebrew. One
of them said, and I am paraphrasing, mind you, remembering back to what Violet told me, with a shine
in her gorgeous black eyes, (to call them brown would belie their brilliance against her ivory skin),

If there is a God, he has abandoned this place

Violet left the remains of the God she grew up with in the rubble at Treblinka.

Author's Note

Reviews

[NeiL ArandA]

Well said KLG, There's much history I could palpate in those carefully woven words. " She believes what she believes " perhaps ? There's one movie I watched a while back. Its titled " Where God left His shoes " It's a movie about a family who went through devastating hardships and loses. I'm thinking maybe the setting of the story is after the WWII when Poland was still rebuilding after the war. I love the question you raise to your audience and the last line was perfectly stated. It is thought provoking indeed. What I get from this is the same question I asked after I have seen images of Jews humiliated and murdered by the Nazis in horrifying numbers and in callous brutality. I saw my answer. I love the way you penned this piece.

[Lyn Anderson]

Thank you for your kind review - it very much is she believed (past tense) that she believed -- as she no longer believes. I appreciate you stopping in.

[Pryde Foltz]

Yes ... it is hard to believe in faith and doubt in the face of horror. Powerful write, KL:)

[Lyn Anderson]

thanks, I appreciate the visit.

[Lorry]

She believed she believed....What a wonderful way of putting it. I may use that if anyone ever asks.
You captured the coldness of the concrete in this piece, with harrowing echoes from our recent past. I do believe there are places that feel the pain from the past. Here in Scotland, we have Bannockburn, which was the site of a battle against the English. If you stand on the field, you get such a feeling of unease that you have to leave. I believe these are the deserted, asking us not to forget.

[Lyn Anderson]

Thanks for sharing that. Yes, some places just feel the pain of what occurred there.

[Lydia Shutter]

I have goosebumps after reading your words, KL. So many of my family members were killed in concentration camps and some, who were fortunate enough to get out, were never the same. Monumentally moving. Lydi**

[Lyn Anderson]

Thank you very much. Her matter of fact explanation of losing whatever faith she had in one day, simply standing in the foul place, sticks with me.

[Inject Positivity]

Reminded me something of Dr Viktor Frankle's life which he wrote in his book man's search for meaning... These stories are deeply moving, because they have reality in them... The line "if there is a God, he has abandoned this place" really hits home for me...

Sincerely
Dhiman

[Lyn Anderson]

Thank you very much. That particular line is etched in Hebrew on the wall of the camp -- as related to me by a friend -- I have never been there.

[Coyote Poetry]

Powerful words expressed. I saw the death camps in Poland and Germany. Feel of death lingered 30 years later.
"Violet left the remains of the God she grew up with in the rubble at Treblinka."
Would be hard o find God when you knew the taste of death too near. Thank you dear friend for sharing the amazing poetry.
Coyote

[Lyn Anderson]

Thank you for your kindness, as always.

[Coyote Poetry]

You are welcome dear friend.

[Jon Roggie]

I always remember going to the Plotzensee Memorial in West Berlin. There were two different displays which stuck in my mind. One was the execution orders. The other was farewell letters. The room where the executions took place was bad enough. I am unable to imagine what one of the camps would feel like.

[Lyn Anderson]

I cannot imagine either, particularly if I knew much of my family died in one of those places.

[Papaya]

How people can inflict such cruelty on other people is beyond me.
My grandmother survived a concentration camp. I wonder sometimes if it might have been better had she not. She was messed up. Horrible tragedies. I always feel a lump in my throat when I read this sort of writing. I don't enjoy these stories but they're important.

[Lyn Anderson]

Thank you. I know what you mean

[redzone]

what a stunning poem Kl... I am reminded of a song written by L. Cohen "Dance Me Til The End Of Love" which was a song to the lives lost in the death camps... its a beautiful song and most think see it as a love song and not a death song...

I am always amazed at how such grotesque horror inflicted on a people can become an excuse for doing the same thing to another peoples... you would think "never again" would be a call for everyone to never again allow such horrors be done to anyone no matter what religion or nationality and especially by those who have suffered from it before... and deeply tucked into this may be "doubts" about the existence of a god, but known he gave them israel, no matter what...

we should always remember and condemn with all our might what happened at these death camps and against the Jewish people and never again allow any people face these same horrors anywhere in the world... including in Palestine.

one ugly story that came out after the war was how the people who lived very close to Dachau could smell burning flesh, could see the trains loaded with human beings and stood aside and did nothing to stop these horrors... they knew and did nothing... how many americans like these good germans stand aside as their own government commits war crimes all over the world??

your poem, inspired by Ted Kniffen's poem reminds us that we live in a world community and are responsible to and for each other and it is both our right and duty to stop these atrocities, especially those committed by our own governments... writing poetry about these vents is one way in this and much needed, as well as many more... thanks KL for your poem (I know my words here are not your views, this is where my understanding of world events/history and your poem have taken me)

your poem is very moving and well written KL

redzone

[Lyn Anderson]

Thank you. While I do agree with the majority of what you say, the issues with Palestine are much more complex, and not something I wish to address here.

[redzone]

would you like me to edit my comment??? was not meant as a debate or to create one either...

[Lyn Anderson]

Not a worry. I will delete any that make that leap.