she hit me offhand //with those smiling dark eyes

in the corridor of the Anne Frank exhibit in berlin

.

i’m in everybody’s way,
literally, coincidentally landing
on the steps to the Anne Frank exhibit,

i don’t go inside though, pockets full
of history already (Käthe Kollwitz, Otto Weidt–),
instead stay in the narrow corridor,
at the bottom of Anne’s curious-for-life eyes,
& her “in spite of everything, i still believe
that people are really good at heart”
hiTs me froNtal, FullForce
//unprepared

–she never made it into sixteen,

&i listen to the voice that reads
passages of her diary,
(a present for her 13th birthday)
how they put layers of skirts&sweaters on
to take as much with them as possible,
how she hardly couldn’t breathe
because of all the clothes

through the floor pane– houses, sprayed with graffiti,
dark brown painted wooden stairs beneath me,
i sit pressed against the floor wall,
listening to the dreams and struggles

of a teenage girl who wrote in march, 1944
“How wonderful it is
that nobody need wait a single moment
before starting to improve the world” 

the stairs gnarl ailing
with every step that someone makes,
BuMM bUmm bUmM
heavy military boots, state police storming a flat,
tearing people out of bed//life,
deport whole families into KZ’s,

what did they know about a girl, writing her heart
into a little book with red/white cover?

–the only thing her father holds in hand
beside the memories of his family after march ’45,

what do I know–?

the sun paints evening patterns on the window sill,
i check sub connections that will take me
somewhere close to home, &
getting up, things have shifted– i

grab the rail, catch a last glimpse of her face,
then set my feet
out on the streets of a free berlin

.

the parts in italics are quotes by Anne Frank–
having a good time in berlin – it’s a vibrant and inspiring city – and – talking about inspiration… smiles…it’s OpenLinkNight at dVerse again… check out some other poets, tag in your own… doors open at 3pm EST..