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Issue Five

                     Short Little Proverbs
                            by Maria M Viren

           Curriculum
            Take the class:
            Pogroms, Holocausts, Mock-trials.
            Retake the class:
            Pogroms, Holocausts, Mock-trials.

            Noble Deeds
        exterminate
        ethnically cleanse
                 extract information

             Belong
             Create an enemy!

             Hope
             Imagine a Promised Land
                                 --Maria M. Viren

        Mauthausen
        Men treating men like oxen.
        Sad, sad, sad.
        And the difference between you and an Aegyptian Pharaoh?
        I have been to Linz, I have lived in Vienna; oh how close you have built your Hell to those cities.
        You killed while music was playing.  I can no longer house your arian-ness, your lack of pigmentarii
        How can you live with yourself for the times to come?

                                                    --Maria M. Viren


        Composers and Human Rights
        Beethoven: A conqueror of defeat
        Mozart: a reminder to God of his own promise (“proomissisti……”)
        Brahms: a Hungarian Gypsy and a Hungarian (in spite of being German)
        Mendelssohn: a true Jewish boy
        Mahler: an echo and mirror of God’s true revelation
        Wagner: a prophet of the death of Europe…
                                            -- Maria M. Viren 


Short Little Proverbs  (cont’d.)                

Escape
It is your rule, not mine.  I am not playing.

Lamentation
To be able to grieve; start counting.
Start with “one,” stop at “six million.”
Or: just sing.

Counting Magyarul (in Hungarian) in C-Block:
“one,” “two,” … “four hundred thousand” ... Szeg
ény Magyarorság !(poor Hungary!)…

1967
Stump.  Stump.
Now do not stand where I am standing.  From now on:  This is mine!

The Young Ghetto Businessman:
“Armbands for one shilling,
 Armbands for one shilling…”
At least one true patriot!
A true-patriot!...

Fawn and the Wolves                   
Short Little Proverbs  (cont’d.)
Somewhere in northeastern Europe
A photo is taken of a young being,
Standing in the snow, pleading…
The wolves are too full to devour.
But kill is what they do.
So they kill…              

 Psychology
Your whipping boy was not your "ungl
ück" (your "misfortune")
Your arrogance was.

Ghetto Youth Photo
One thin figure
Feet wrapped in thin gauze
Hungry…



I am a Mule
                        By Maria M. Viren (written 1988)
            I am a mule.
            Beaten once too many times.
            An ox that stopped, told to keep going.
            A dog, faithful to his master,
            One day too long.
            Out there; A bird!
            With wings trimmed,
            And beak hushed,
            It just will not fly, …
            Nor build, …
            A nest…


Promised Land
Israel Antarctique? …
Why not?
No, your violin bow will not freeze up.
God will provide oil not just for your Minora…

 Maria M. Viren

And now... a  poem from Meg:

When is there something to grieve about?
When you have been deceived?
When you have lost?
When there is something you have believed - and you think it is gone?
But what you have believed - is never really gone.
Then - when should you grieve?
I am not really sure.
Perhaps what you believe - can take care of the grieving.

Margaret Elgin        

I am paving the way!  Come with me!
                            Maria M. Viren
   
                                                    Star of David