NEW POETRY

In the Auschwitz Infirmary

A line of naked stick-men; he in front

Eyes longingly a pair of chamber pots,

When told to, on the one he’s told to, squats,

In sixty seconds, though, can only grunt.

By squirting out a dysenteric mess

His aim (excuse the pun) had been to stayIn the infirmary a further day;

Instead, he’s kicked aside and told to dress.

Another, with his entrails in a knot

That tightens every second, quells a howl,

Loses the bid to cow his brimming bowel,

Sullies a Nazi toecap and is shot.

There’s one, though, who has made the 19^th block

A comfortable home within the camp.

He lines up with the long-term squirting champ

And, while all eyes are looking at the clock,

They switch the pisspots.

Thus, for half his bread,

Through roll call he can comfortably doze

While, sockless in the snow in ragged rows,

The half-alive must hold up last night’s dead.

Peter Austin

Smartphone

Never, in my wildest imaginings

Could I ever have dreamt

That one day I would hold in my hand

A small device

Which could provide meWith every miracle ever conceived by man

Which could harness air waves

And light waves and sound waves

And carry a memory of more than

A million lifetimesAnd by merely touching it with my fingertips

Allow me access to the world’s knowledge

And place people across the globeInto my space

Right there in front of me.

The phenomenon I hold in my hand

Tells me everything I ever wanted to learn:It instructs me.

It guides meIt talks to me

. It plays music for meIt is my friend, my companion, my other selfIt astounds me.

It charms me.

It challenges me.

It overwhelms me.

……..

We live with complacency

Surrounded by the most incredible of miracles

Yet we continually wait to be woken

By another manifestation

The ultimate, the even better

So that we can test the human capacity

For invention and mastery

Smaller and smaller microchips

In bigger and bigger constellations

The smart-phone which awaits my bidding

Is a miracle designed for and by mortals

From components generated

By an Intelligence beyond our understanding

Embedded within our being are also microchips

Embracing gifts of logic, insight, imagination

Poetry, art and music

Love, laughter and appreciation

Within our hands lies the capacity to construct

Within our minds, the capacity to create

Within our hearts, the capacity to care

…..

If this small mobile phone has so much powe

rHow do we divine the source and complexity

Of every force and every energyNot yet even comprehended by man?

Or the origin

Of the unimaginable intricacies and connectivity

Of every evolution and design

Delineated even before and beyond?

And which remains and will remainIn our domain

Undiscovered and unknown

For we are too microcosmic

And cannot see

Charlotte Cohen