It was May seventh, 1945, and on the top floor of the tallest building, two Nazi soldiers hid in an office overlooking the square. As the German army fled, the soldiers waited to finish their final mission: kill as many as possible of the crowd celebrating their freedom from the Nazi occupation.
The Netherlands July, 2023
I stand among 31memorial plaques
scattered across the square. As I read
the inscribed names of the slaughtered,
the east wind comes cool from the harbor.
I watch the silhouette of a cloud, darkening
the piazza with the figure of a cloaked stranger,
and think it is death, returning to the scene
of its crime and trying to make right the past.
The wind will have none of it and chases
the shadow from the square. Then, a quilt-like
pattern emerges between bronze plates and bricks.
The cloud, wind, and names lead me to this:
Tears live for seconds. Burials last for hours.
For seven generations, sorrow endures.
Joe Milosch has four books. San Diego City Library selected his latest book, A Walk with Breast Cancer, for a Local Poet Book Award. His book, Homeplate Was the Heart & Other Stories was nominated for the American Book Award and the Eric Hoffer, Best Small Press Publication award.
