Richard Waring
When Books Were Burned
In Berlin, in Bebelplatz,
Erich Kästner stood by unseen
as his own book was consumed.
It rained so hard the flames
kept going out and the fire marshals
had to pour gasoline to keep it going.
So long, Rosa Luxemburg,
Karl Marx, and Walter Benjamin.
Farewell Einstein, Freud, and Kafka.
Goodbye Farewell to Arms. Silence
All Quiet on the Western Front.
James Joyce was consigned to flames
alongside Helen Keller, plundered
from private and public libraries
no longer allowed to tell their stories.
We knew this was only prelude.
“This poem is from a manuscript entitled All That Remains, about war and other conflicts. Though pertaining to the actions leading up to the Second World War, the present moment also haunts this poem. As Mark Twain wrote, ‘History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.’”
Richard Waring’s poems have appeared in Ars Medica, Comstock Review, the American Journal of Nursing, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and other publications. His first book of poetry, What Love Tells Me, was published by Word Poetry in 2016. He hosts a monthly poetry reading, the PoemWorks series. Until his recent retirement, he was senior layout artist for the New England Journal of Medicine.
