Remembering the End of the World
by Minadora Macheret
Grasping my sister’s God-struck hand
I begged her not to enter the black car called crow
as every morning smoke churned & churned
until the town was no town
just honeycomb stuck at melting point
The ash tasted of bees & roses at the start of decay
while food was promised in wheat stalks bent to barren soil
Mothers sang Shema Yisrael
eyes uncovering
God’s silhouette
While a hive becomes a swarm
a pheromonal alarm
a thrum of departure
during the roundup of prayer books
the roundup of bodies
the roundup of gold-teeth
after the first glass-shatter
the first tattoo-thrash
the rabbis hide
& the neighbors refuse
& my sister did not believe me
& my parents escaped
their bomb-splintered train
I promise to leave mama & papa
on the barn floor
in a cattle car, never again a cattle car
the wings against groaning wood panels, flickering
as morning dew magnifies rusting tracks
I would say
the Ukrainians were bandits
the Russians bandits
the West a bandit
our neighbors bandits
but you already knew this dear Bandit-God
as you pressed your lips to my temple
you shot my sister
through the heart