Etelka Marcel
In Denial: 1937
There she stood
in front of the whole class.
“Who’s your father?”
Her mind began to burn.
“Never tell anyone.”
Three words scorched
into her since she could walk,
understand; write on slate;
the slate-pencil screeching
like a hunted animal;
“Never, do you hear?”
Words, words threatening.
“Well?” The man
in a polished leather coat
spat out his question –
her class-mates giggled.
Her feet grew
into cemented floorboards.
“Your name is foreign
as well, is it not?”
Her school-mates laughed,
embarrassed, they had never
given it much thought.
“I don’t know,” she muttered.
This answer bounced
off walls and the prison bars
in her mind, head, feet
without Aryan roots.
A sudden silence
cut the suspense; the laughter stopped
leaving fear and a drumming heart.
“Sit down then!” She obeyed.
Like a trapped animal
shaking;
wounded;
no more adrenaline left.
Page(s) 23
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