Where They Burn Books
When the regime ordered the dangerous
books be openly burned, alle alle oxen
were coerced and wheelbarrows of books driven
to the stake. A banished poet, one of the best,
surveying the list of the burned,
was incensed. His books
had been forgotten. He hurry, hurry, hurried
Burn me! he penned, quill trembling
with fury, burn me! Don’t do this
to me! Don’t leave me out! Haven’t I
always reported the truth in my books? And now
you brand me a liar! I order you:
burn me!
Translated from the German by Angie Vorhies
Photography by Magdalena
