The Empty Bowl
Poems of the Holocaust and After
In The Empty Bowl: Poems of the Holocaust and After, Holocaust survivor Judith H. Sherman strives to record trauma through art. Her poems, written largely in the words of a fifteen-year-old survivor, provide historical entry into the Holocaust. Put simply, the poems explore the reality of the events experienced by Sherman in her determination to survive--from first leaving home to illegal border crossings, hiding, capture, imprisonment by the Gestapo, the horrors of the Ravensbrück concentration camp, liberation, and, finally, a full life of joys and challenges that came after, including the unyielding intrusions of the past and hopeful celebration of a compassionate future.
The Empty Bowl is incredibly moving. . . . Judith Sherman's book is a gift from a survivor of atrocity to all who live today, all who have a chance to change the future.'--Hilda Raz, author of Letter from a Place I've Never Been: New and Collected Poems, 1986-2020
Sherman offers us the voice of lyric testimony. Joining the chorus of other survivors who have found a way to make art from their trauma, Sherman's poems are by turns terrifying, humorous, and grimly honest about the horrors of the Shoah.'--Jehanne Dubrow, author of The Arranged Marriage: Poems
The Empty Bowl is a treasure trove of poems that paint pictures of life before, during, and after the Holocaust with the use of precise and descriptive language, where not one word is wasted.'--Deborah L. Coltin, Executive Director, Lappin Foundation
Born in Kurima, Slovakia, Judith H. Sherman is a Holocaust survivor now living in New Jersey. She is the mother of three, the grandmother of five, and a widow. A retired social worker and psychotherapist, she is the author of the acclaimed memoir Say The Name: A Survivor’s Tale in Prose and Poetry.
Foreword
Arthur Kleinman
Preface
Poems of Before
This Time
I Too Have a Dream
Because
My Grandfather
Serious Men
Poems of the Holocaust
My Village of Kurima
It Is the Law
The Law of the Land
My Suitcase and I
Morning Mass
Toothbrush
Gestapo Prison
Mirjam's Letter from Hiding
Unhiding in the Forest
Hiding in the Forest
Karpu in Auschwitz
Such Good Taste
Wagon Train
Auschwitz
Lord
SS Man
Knew You Then
Morning Prayer
During Appell
Appell Guard
Magda Speaks kein Deutsch
Come Messiah
Hunger
Hunger, Do Not Intrude
Let Not Flowers Here
The Invitation
An Apple in Ravensbruck
My Ravensbruck Love Song
I Know a Dog
Ravensbruck
Jesus, Tell Your Father
Stand Still, Sun
The Roma Girl
Ravensbruck Friend
Shoes for Life
The Mirror in My Right Shoe
A Brief Reprieve
You Are Invited to My Funeral
Reluctant Witness
Resistance of Prisoner 83,621
Death March
I Say Damn You
Liberation
Trees I Say
Death, Stand Aside at My Liberation Time
Poems of After
Once You Survive
No More Hide-and-Seek
Tell Me This
This Year in Jerusalem
That You Should Know
Legacy Poem
Do Something
Accountability
9/11: Has Anybody Seen My Dad?
My Darfur Mother
Bosnia Boy
To Walk in My Shoes
I Smile, I Smile
Fresh Washed Sheets
Sunrise
Summer Woods
If God Is Dead
Are Things Changed in Heaven
How You Are?
Oversight
If You Apologize
Let Me Win
A Ladder for God
We Should Talk
Survivor's Voice Today
Survivor's Message
Say the Name
Afterword
Ilana Gelb
Acknowledgments
Contributors
