KRISTALLNACHT: A COLLECTION OF POEMS By JUDITH ANN ABRAMS Bachelor of Arts Wesleyan University Middletown, Connecticut 1976 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER 0 F ARTS May, 1981 lh·es,'s J 9 ~, AJ(ptk Utf· 2_ KRISTALLNACHT: A COLLECTION OF POEMS Thesis Approved: Dean of Graduate College ii 1084822 PREFACE The poetry which appears in this collection represents a compilation of work which I have mainly written over the last three or four years. My increased interest in the Jewish heritage and in the history of the holocaust has help­ ed shape the collection, giving it a focus and some thematic unity. I would like to thank the following organizations for printing or recognizing my poetry: the Cimarron Review for printing my poem "A Hospital Room" in its fiftieth an­ niversary issue and for reprinting it in the anthology Best of the Cimarron Review; the American Academy of Poets for awarding first prize to "A Hospital Room" in its 1979 competition; the Oklahoma English Quarterly for printing "Girl Before Hunting Season," and "The Mountain"; the Okla­ homa C.:~llegiate Poetry Contest for recognizing "Crippled by Minescongo Woods." I am finally most indebted to a number of people. I have been blessed with a thesis committee whose members have been diversified, challenging, and talented, patient enough to reread drafts on an evening's notice. I'd like to thank Dr. Peter Rollins for his enco~ragement and di- rection and for his sound advice that I consider most care­ fully the effect of the holocaust history on this collection iii of poems. My special thanks to Dr. Terry Hummer who has been an inspiring teacher and a gentle but effective critic, giving most generously of his time. His careful attention to my poetry and his talent and skill as an editor and writer have been invaluable to me as I reworked the poems. I'd like to thank Dr. Gordon Weaver, my teacher and advisor for three years, whose guidance, wisdom, and humor have made my stay in Stillwater memorable. It is also with the great­ est fondness and respect that I'd like to mention Dr. William Pixton, Dr. William Mills, Dr. David Berkeley, and Dr. Jane­ Marie Luecke who have made my graduate work most worthwhile. I'd also like to thank Michael Cecilione for being the finest critic, supporter, and friend. In addition, I'd like to thank my father, who, some may assume, appears frequently in my poetry but who, in fact, lives peacefully, growing strawber~ ries and raising bees in Warwick, New York. I wish to dedi­ cate these poems to my brother Matthew, to my mother, and to Dan Masterson, rare poet and teacher, who introduced me to the world of poetry. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. KRISTALLNACHT: A COLLECTION OF POEMS . 18 Minescongo Woods . 19 Kristallnacht, 1938, Berlin 20 In Thiells Before I Was Born . 22 By Minescongo Stream . 23 Girl Before Hunting Season • 24 The Mountain . 25 In Stones and Soil . 26 Crippled by Minescongo Woods . 27 Mechanics . • . • • • . 29 More Fallacies About Women Poets 30 Baby . 31 Retired 32 Behind Arnie's Bar , . 34 Intruders . 36 Escape From Tennessee 37 The Hunt . 39 Cicadas . 40 A Blues Heart Magazine . , . , . 41 She's Pretty So It Hurts 42 The Intruder . 43 In the China Closet, Far Back ... 45 A Coyote in Barnsdall . • . 46 The War . • . • 47 Wagons . • . 48 For Her Father • 49 A Hospital Room ..... 50 Kristallnacht 51 BIBLIOGRAPHY 52 v CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION My collection of poetry deals with the individual's survival in a world which is violent. I have called the collection Kristallnacht, the German word for the night of the broken glass. On this night, Nazi instigators de- strayed 10,000 homes and synagogues and deported JO,OOO Jew­ ish people to concentration camps.1 In my opening poem "Kristallnacht, 1938, Berlin," which appears in the first section "Minescongo Woods," I describe an incident in Jewish history parallel to Kristallnacht. In 160 B.C., Jews lost their freedom and lives as the holy Temple was destroyed. In the poem, the oil that a Hebrew boy offers to the temple is hidden and escapes destruction, burning eight days in the festival of lights. The survival of the Jewish people in this poem, despite pain and suffer­ ing, gives them strength and hope. Human tenderness exists, despite cruelty, the desire for freedom surfaces, despite humiliation. The human capacity for both joy and cruelty emerges in the collection of my poetry. At times, basic human instincts· are positive, as in the poem "In Thiells Before I Was Born": a father expresses both his desire to have children and his 1 2 love and respect for the earth--sentiments which are celebrat- ed again and again in the Old Testament. In same at the ~aems, however, which appear later in this collection, pas- itiV'e impulses are repressed as in the :poem "Crippled by :J1inescango t'laads" in which a father beats his daughter "to keep her home.'' In the :poem "Behind Arnie's Bar,'' 'Nhich ap- pears in the section "Mechanics," human instincts surface but with cr..1el results. A man strikes a woman in self- defense, and a fight ensues, resulting in his death. In "Kristallnacht," which appears in the section "IntrJ.ders," :passion and violence merge. In this poem, which titles my collection, Nazi footmen, in a kind of Dionysian frenzy, break the glass windows in jewish homes and temples. Human life loses all dignity, and, as I describe in the poem, a million human leaves are raked to graves. I describe the holocaust, not to reawaken horror for the Nazi campaign, but to e~nnce the potential cruelty in all human beings. The holocaust has revealed much about this cruelty. As Freud asserts, "cruelty and the sexual instinct are :nost in- timately connected" as ''taught by the history of civiliza­ tion."2 The holocaust demonstrated the extent to which in- s~incts can be distorted and destructive impulses unleashed. !he lessons of the holocaust are complex. It has exposed the :'1uman capacity for Yiolence as ·nell as the indi Yidual' s capacity far courage in the face of great suffering. J Personal accounts of Nazi persecution, Ar..ne ?rank's The Diarv £.!~Young Girl, for example, and documentaries of the holocaust are numerous. The particulars have been recounted again and again by such great writers as Elie Wiesel. PoetrJ written by children in the Theresienstadt Ghetto are especi.- ally a.ffecti Ye: The path is narrow And a little boy walks along it. A little boy, a sweet boy, Like that growing blossom. When the blossom comes to bloom3 The little boy will be no more. The magnitude and intensity of the holocaust crimes have had an immeasurable impact upon subsequent art. Sylvia Plath's poem "Daddy" is a striking example of a work filled with i:n- ages of the holocaust: she writes, Not G-d but a swastika LWag( 4 So black no sky could sque~~ through. The poetry in the collection Kristallnacht has been strongly effected by this history. Many of the poems des- cribe small holocausts: the crto.elty which results from the disto:::--cion or repression of basic human needs.and the indi.:. · vidual's stru.ggle to survive in a world which can be power- ful but destructi Ye. '!'he following discussion of the sec- tions "Mines congo ·tloods," ":-.1echa.rrics," and "Intr.lders" will hopefully elucidate my poetry so that the themes in my work shall emerge. 4 "Kristallnacht, 1938, Berlin" opens this collection of poetry and contains many of the themes which reappear throughout the manuscript. The poem describes the survival of the Jewish people, and, by extension, all ~eople, in spite of great adversity. Embracing their heritage, the fa­ ther, mother, and old men continue to light candles, plow the fields, and sing songs at temple. Despite the assertion that Abraham sleeps "to the music of his children dying," the poem's message is hopeful; the poem depicts the love of the father for ·his wife and son, the old men for the Torah, and the young boy for the Temple. The poem hints at the cruelty and tenderness that can exist side by side. This theme--the potential violence and cruelty in the world and the human potential to love against all odds--surfaces in many of the following poems. I use various prosodic devices in this first piece. A regular cadence gives the work a steady, resounding beat. The lines have three hard stresses each, except for the last line of each stanza,which has two hard stresses. The large number of feminine endings gives the poem a melod­ ic qualit~ which sharply contrasts with the final poem of the collection, "Kristallnacht." I use alliteration to heighten the impact of certain phrases: "farmer's fist," the "best branches," and "oil from olive wood." Slant rhyme closely connects certain words: lover, Torah, and Hanukkah. The line break often heightens suspense: 5 Kiss as lovers the Torah. Sometimes, the line break can effect two meanings in a line: He died in burlap cloth before the temple fell. Though the poem does not contain traditional metric or rhyme patterns, it clearly leans heavily on prosodic techniques to achieve its desired effect. The language and stories in the Old Testament clearly influence the poem. Many of its details and images origin~ ate in the Bible, and the meter appears in many Hebrew prayers.5 I believe that these influences and allusions strengthen the poem, underscoring an important theme:the close connection between the Jewish people and their past.