The Poetry of
Michael G. Khmelnitsky

Cappelbaum sleeps.

Cappelbaum dreams
that he is
fifty kilometres west
of Kraków
near the
confluence of the
Wisła and Soła

Cappelbaum thinks
"How did I
get here
how did I
end up
with this star
on my prison striped
chest?

         when he is
interrupted
by the
         BANG
of the door—
enter the
kapo & a
black uniform:

— Jest stolarz?
   silence
   then the gun
   comes out
— Sprich, Jude!
— Kurwa! Jest stolarz?
   then the man
   comes out

                 of the
         ranks
— Häftlingsnummer?
— Eins-zwei-neun-eins-sieben.
— Name?
— Chmielnicki, Aleksander.
— Kommen Sie.
                     Exeunt all.

Cappelbaum thinks
of the man's thick striped
shirt
      & the upside
down
    triangle
& the man's
gaunt face

Cappelbaum dreams
of his wide
open eyes
and the white
open skies
and die Natur's
                    extremes

Cappelbaum wakes.