Fragments of a visit to Buchenwald
a survivor on film recounts
one prisoner killing another
over a fistful of potato peels
meant to feed the officers’ pigs
the iron table where gold fillings
were extracted
from angel-light corpses
our guide showing us art
made by prisoners
how did they get paper and pencil
I asked
our guide our teacher
the angel-light art still here
bearing witness
on Sundays some prisoners
held small concerts
singing songs remembered
cherished
reciting poems
*
Julia Caroline Knowlton is the Adeline A. Loridans Professor of French at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta. Recognition for her poetry includes an Academy of American Poets College Prize and a 2018 Georgia Author of the Year award. Kelsay Books will publish her newest chapbook, Life of the Mind, in the autumn of 2023.
