Poems
and story dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust
“Dear Beatriz,
Your texts are very touching and truly poetic about a
subject which is not easy to write about.
And it is not only a Jewish pain but also a human tragedy.
Thanks for sharing those texts with me."
Warmly
Eliahu Toker
www.eliahutoker.com.ar
YEARNING
To the survivors of the Holocaust
I’ve dreamt about you so much
These days
Of potage and bread
I’ve dreamt about you so much
With the frost and the famine
With chains lacerating the ankles
With terror
settled in the shack
I’ve dreamt about you so much
FREEDOM.
© Beatriz Iriart
I WAS IN AUSCHWITZ.
To the memory of Primo Levi
(1919-1987)
January 27th, 2006
I was in Auschwitz.
I gave birth to children
Of bitterness, pain and horror
I walked barefoot
in the mud of a field with mown flowers
like the fresh seeds
of our flocks
And today after 61 years
Of the camp liberation
I’m a shadow
A woman without face
Desolation and hunger
I…
I Was in Auschwitz.
© Beatriz Iriart
THE SCULPTOR
To the memory of Anna Frank
To possess a spoon-knife
is to become an avid sculptor.
You shall locate
A piece of brass and let it rise
Not to waste
A drop of potage
And with the knife
We cut the bread
To trade it
For more useful things
Indeed, to possess a spoon-knife
These days
Is certainly an art.
© Beatriz Iriart
NUMBERS
To the memory of Itsjok Katzenelson
Don’t ask, don’t wait for an answer
Before the “beasts” we are a thing
A burden
That is hated and justified.
The shack is cold
Like winter out there.
Only the memory of homeland
Is warm and good to snooze
With that ancient flavour.
There’s no way out
Of these fields
But you can wait a “selection”
To metamorphose into a bird
Or simply wait
A shot
At random.
© Beatriz Iriart
THE EXPOSITION
“Only work will set you free”
(Legend
about the concentration camp on Auschwitz)
They got a ticket to the following station. The driver
treated them kindly.
They exchanged
opinions, memories and a near future. They arrived. The melancholic notes
enveloped the morning fog.
Soon, the tasks in the atelier would get started. The music
was sliding smoothly. They undressed; the hygiene was the fundamental
discipline for that face of art. The showers would help too.
They were accompanied until the vast exposition, before the
immense collage where there were dreams, bones, illusions, fears, but no faces.
© Beatriz Iriart
POLAND
The "Wolf" promulgates
“To design" meticulously
the Treblinka camp
and the Stangl Nazi answers.
Countless souls
Lie at the end of the “deliveries”
The curtain fell.
The work is not the same
But the atavism is still valid
at other times
other areas
other stigmatas
other essences ...
which throughout the centuries are
the enduring panacea of SIMON WIESENTHAL:
"I will never forget you".
© Beatriz Iriart
THE
NIGHT OF BROKEN GLASS
They dreamt that life was flowing.
They woke up surrounded by pogroms
Frost, glass, barbed fences
and torment.
Their names already swelled
the list of stiff beings.
© Beatriz Iriart
Beatriz Iriart
She was born in autumn in La Plata, Argentina.
She is a member of the “Latin American Writers Association
of California and International Chapter on the Internet” (whose acronyms in
Spanish are SELC and CII), California, USA.
Books published:
“Perspectives” (1977)
“Collage of Five” (1981)
“Strange Lineage”(1984)
“Death wants…” (2003)
Her literary work is published in English and Portuguese in
several countries and in different anthologies in her native country and around
the world.
She has studied pottery and art.
She took part in the Underground Movement in the 70’s,
collaborating with the literary magazine “Machu Picchu”.
Nowadays, she publishes in digital and printed magazines in
the United States, Canada, Spain, Brazil, Venezuela, Uruguay, Argentina, among
others.
The renowned Venezuelan composer Diana Arismendi wrote
in 2015 the work “In memoriam” to commemorate the
HOLOCAUST; the second movement of the work was inspired in the poem “Yo estuve
en Auschwitz” (I was in Auschwitz) by poet Beatriz Iriart.The concert was
organized by Espacio Anna Frank from Caracas with the participation of
Venezuela's Symphony Orchestra directed by maestro Alfredo Rugeles.
Poems in video
AUSCHWITZ te he soñado tanto
LIBERTAD
