Published November 7, 2007
[pre]Lena
(Ukraine 1931)
The ice,
like a dome of death,
a cold winter
in the middle of spring.
All this in her eyes
which used to sparkle
in the sunlight,
teeth like pearls
embedded
in her smile
glowing in the warmth.
And now it is dark
and cold
and her eyes full of ice and tears
close for the last time
and her small body
is
lost
with the others.[/pre]
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My family is from Ukraine and reading this poem hit me straight in the heart. Excellent writing. The ending about her small body ending up with the others was very dramatic and sad.
I have no comments about this poem regarding changing anything.
Hummingbird
"Little Match Girl" anyone?
I liked your phrasing quite a bit. The way you started small in scope and slowly panned out until we could see the whole picture was a very nice way to frame this.
The best line you had was the last, it fits in the multitiudes who died, but in a very powerful way. It isn't like you forgot to include them... no instead it is just an extention of your pan-out. But also, a mention like this is often symbolic about how "one death is a tragedy, one million deaths is a statistic".
Technical complaints, I have none.
Last word: Your title, while instructive is too dry. I would suggest renaming it "The Holodomor which is what Wikipedia tells me the name of this famine is.*
*By the way, as someone with an avid intrest in history, I know the feeling all to well of thinking you know everything, only to be stumped on an event like this, and have to wikipedia it.