Hitler’s Pansies

In Adolf’s floral painting

do the flowers face their propagator

in open gape? Dark mouths. Tiny outbursts

framed against his bright future sky and

white frill drapes. This was his ironic display;

purity sprung from a round, blue vase. Innocent

viola faces painted in clean, soothing shades.

Then Vienna, 1938:

violent Kristallnacht.

Ninety-five synagogues lit up the night.

An early spray of burning stars singed the sky

before six million would die.

How many of these heart’s-ease petals

can be laid over our sleeping eyes?

 

 

 

Tammy Robacker won the 2015 Keystone Chapbook Prize for her manuscript, R. Her second poetry book Villain Songs is forthcoming with ELJ Publications in 2016. Tammy published her first collection of poetry, The Vicissitudes, in 2009 (Pearle Publications). Tammy’s poetry has appeared in Arsenic Lobster, Menacing Hedge, Chiron Review, VoiceCatcher, Duende, So to Speak, Crab Creek Review, WomenArts, and Up the Staircase Quarterly. Currently enrolled in the Rainier Writing Workshop MFA program in Creative Writing at Pacific Lutheran University, Tammy lives in Oregon. www.tammyrobacker.com.