Poem A Day: Day 18

2010 April PAD Challenge: Day 18 Poetic Asides
Posted by Robert

For today's prompt, take the phrase "To (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write the poem. Some examples: "To the left, to the left," "To write or not to write," "To Kill a Hummingbird," "To the Doghouse," etc. There are so many possibilities.

Well, I'm taking a very cheesy, cheap way out of this one today. I already had a poem that fit this prompt, which I wrote in October 1996. I think it's one of the best poems I've ever written, or at least, one of my favorites. It's a response to the little girl in red from Schindler's List. In the movie and the book, the list of names represents life, and both Thomas Keneally and Stephen Spielberg take special care to focus on the names of the people who survived because of the list. In the movie, the girl in red has no name. In the book, her name is Genia.

Here's my poem, with a couple of subtle changes:

To Genia

A passion for red
She floats forgotten among the already dead,
A doll from childhood’s dream
The guns have no sight for her
They will find her later

For now she is playing children's games
Of follow-the-leader and hopscotch
In blood-stained snow

A passion for red
And she did not understand
They would find her later
Under the bed
Playing hide and seek.


Thanks for reading!