What we have here are bone songs
on the backs of children
who lullaby in the kennels

My busy hands busy making bullets
Funeral mouths on fire

charms in the bottled hair
ash of fetus
ash of all
shadow-smoke

The blackbirds splay their wings
and poof! a dark shroud covers
the snowy earth

Take your stone and sling, love
Take my head in your hands

Lola Kaufman, age 17
Birkenau barracks
1944

Carine writes to keep track of who she is and what made her feel. She makes her way through the world with poetry in her head.