She’s new, so you know, go easy on her.
Happy Wednesday!
“Flickering Soul 2” Enkel Dika
Narrow Marrow
My heart is the Babyn Yar,
a cursed ravine,
site of a massacre.
Insanity overgrown,
a feral place,
lost loves piled
in a mass grave.
First, their leather baggage.
Then, their leather shoes.
Their clothes in piles
of sordid memory,
undergarments, boots,
a malicious menagerie.
My heart is the Babyn Yar,
lie down on a stranger
await machine gun fire.
Layer upon layer,
skin upon skin,
bullied by a bullet, but
nothing makes a dent
in that cursed place
without a landmark
or monument.
In a kaleidoscope of lies,
I am the blackest butterfly.
© 2023 | K. Hartless
Laura Veirs “Black Butterfly” 2007
Yard Sale of Thoughts 
wow ! this is dark, heavy and powerful; and that crazy, crucifying couplet ; Plathian in its intensity —
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Yes, I started with this image of a ravine in my heart, and then learned about Babyn Yar and had to write about it. It was an unthinkable atrocity and one never mentioned in my own education.
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I did know of it;maybe that’s partly why the poem hit so hard —
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Yes. I think the poem is me processing what I learned in my research. I am shocked that its not a part of mandatory history.
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I believe research is critical if a work is to have heft and authenticity ; this poem has it !
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This is so powerful!!
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Thank you, Colleen. I think this huge atrocity fascinated me so much that I had to try to make sense of it in my own way. I appreciate you reading and commenting here.
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It’s always a pleasure to read your poetry, K.
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Deeply heartfelt poem for an untaught dark chapter of recent history – you’ve penned such a poignant tribute to this shameful massacre & the individual fragments of their lives snatched away. It’s so important that we keep raising awareness of such horrific crimes lest they be repeated.
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