Sample Sources
The sources below are those contained in our three curated collections—covering themes of Passover, Gender Roles, and Holocaust Resistance. They represent a fraction of the thousands of sources that will be available when the full site launches in 2024.
Ghost Stories
Superimposed upon my face in the mirror is my mother’s. I am about to comb my hair, but here she is, brushing hers, her thick, wavy, white hair.
We quarrelled about hair.
“D…
The Red Tent
My mother’s interview with the Grandmother went on late into the night. First, Rebecca took a long look at her daughter-in-law, betraying her shortsightedness by getting very close and peering into…
San Remo Drive
Would you state your name for the record? a voice intoned.
Even before our father could reply, Bartie said, “Look, it’s Daddy.”
“Sure enough,” said Arthur. “It’s Mister Norman. On the television from…
Bubba Esther, 1888
She was still upset,
she wanted to tell me,
she kept remembering
his terrible hands:
how she came, a young girl
of seventeen, a freckled
fairskinned Jew from Kovno
to Hamburg with her uncle
and…
Circumcision in an Egyptian Relief
Circumcision in an Egyptian relief, Sakkara, Egypt, Sixth Dynasty (ca. 2350–2170 BCE). Priests perform circumcision on boys. The hieroglyphic legend reads “circumcision.” The hands of the boy on the…
Nokh Aushvits (After Auschwitz)
the poem is ugly & they make it uglier
wherein the power resides
that duncan did—or didn’t—understand
when listening that evening to the other poet read
he said “that was pure ugliness” & oh it was
i…
Impaled Corpses at Lachish
Impaled corpses at Lachish, detail from Assyrian relief in the Nineveh palace of Sennacherib (reigned 705–681 BCE), depicting the conquest of Lachish in 701 BCE. For the full relief see Conquest of…
Hybrid Creatures with Six Wings
Hybrid creatures with six wings, Syria, 10th or 9th century BCE. Numerous hybrid creatures, often winged, that combined features of various animals, are known from ancient art. Another example is the…
Lecture with Celan
How many know
the number of creatures is endless?
So many know,
only a gasp in their questions is possible.
All that fullness—
of wounds that won’t scar over.
pain’s grillework
persisting in…
Chariots Trampling Enemies and Burning City in Assyrian Relief
Chariots trampling enemies and burning city in drawing of late 8th century BCE Assyrian relief in Sargon’s palace in Khorsabad, Iraq. One of Sargon’s horse-drawn chariots, its driver holding a whip…
Song for Hannah Arendt
Out of being torn apart
comes art.
Out of being split in two
comes me and you. HA HA!
Out of being torn in three
comes a logical poetry. (She laughed but not at poetry.)
Out of the essential…