A found poem is written by refashioning existing pieces of literature to make a new meaning. I wrote this found poem from an excerpt of the diary of Hanna Lévy-Hass, a Yugoslavian teacher imprisoned in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Nazi Germany.
“Invention”
We invent human dignity
Because our emotions are blunt
To the dark reality
The reality when,” sliced apart,
Is a useless torment
Our existence is reduced to zero
Memories are erased
Dreams brutally sliced apart
I have been sucked into a pit
Of paralyzed friendship
Of paralyzed beauty
I have not died, but I am dead
I want to live but
No longer even remember
Life
I cling desperately to my soul
Caught in a crust that nothing can soften or break
Our past, our present, our future
Depraved to small theatrical productions
But, in spite of everything,
I continue to invent.
I continue to rejoice.
Our human dignity is here,
Glorious and heroic.
It’s only distant.
They will not break us.
