Responding to a Poem Holocaust

Responding to a Poem

Holocaust

by Barbara Sonek

We played, we laughed

we were loved.

We were ripped from the arms of our

parents and thrown into the fire.

We were nothing more than children.

We had a future. We were going to be lawyers, rabbis, wives, teachers, mothers. We had dreams, then we had no hope. We were taken away in the dead of night like cattle in cars, no air to breathe smothering, crying, starving, dying. Separated from the world to be no more. From the ashes, hear our plea. This atrocity to mankind can not happen again. Remember us,

for we were the children whose dreams and lives were stolen away

1. Construct a response to this poem using the same style and structure.

We read, we watched

We cried

We fell from our chairs in shock

We watched your pain and read your sorrow

You were nothing more than machines

We saw your future, rounded up like animals for the slaughter, the chamber and the bullet. Your dreams were shattered with your last breath; all that remain are your memories and your bones. From the ashes hear our plea. We won’t forget you. For we are the children whose dreams and lives are still here.

2. Be mindful of your perspective. Your poem should be from your perspective.

3. Utilise the same techniques employed by the authour.