S.S. Haircut

Recent events in Germany being what they are, this poem decided it would like to resurface and walk about a bit as we discuss issues of freedom, individual liberty, and choice vs. solidarity. Our safety and our responsibilities as citizens on this planet, but also the liberties we have struggled to gain for ourselves as individuals. I’d love to hear your thoughts on all of this.

They opened up the parlors.
We can’t work with angry hair.
Barber dryer,
tendriled wires,
German chatter,
electric glamour.
Hair like soil from high boots;
the massacre of dead ends,
piled on the tiled floor
after months of skin and dust.

Today, there’s the fluttering
cushioned carousel chair,
my son’s body diffusing,
curled into twirling leather,
amid pandemic blether.
Gleeful in his last moments
of unruly hair.
The comb hissing, flying
through his lockdown locks,
an Oktoberfest swing.

The light flutters–
a silver butterfly
oscillating,
freeing dead things
that fall in sweet surrender
to the grateful ground.

Then, I remember
the hallway of hair,
the Holocaust Museum,
warehousing a massacre
of people’s minks
sheared to shame.

Today, the swift silvers
bring cheer, relief.
No mention of its history as thief.
Yet, there are plastic walls in each,
layers of unconfessed loathing.
Hushed truths of a barber booth
and the curt,
cautious cuts
of self-care that
free our eyes
to finally see the truth.
Hairless,
safe for the cyanide,
or the other lies that lie ahead.

19 responses to “S.S. Haircut”

Hobbo

Wow. There I am reading this poem, enjoying the rhythm and it’s imagery, then zap, you hit me with that twist halfway through. Like a rabbit punch in the gut. Very powerful and very well crafted. It’s very early doors, but I am adding this to my shortlist for favourite three posts of 2021.

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1. K.Hartless
  
  Wow, I am so honored, Hobbo. I thought to myself, no one is going to comment on this one; you’ve gone a bit too far. This is sure to scare all away. Thank you. This one was a tough one to pen because it meant a lot.
  
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  1. Hobbo
    
    I remember as a schoolkid in the early sixties being shown black and white films of bulldozers shoveling bodies into huge pits at the concentration camps. An awful thing to show young kids, and it certainly made a lasting impression.
    
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johnlmalone

there’s much to enjoy and frighten here, with the heavy-handed fist in the gut of the Holocaust; it is the joyful minutiae of the present that appeals to me —

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1. K.Hartless
  
  Thank you, John. It started as just that, penned in the barber shop, but as you know..it had another story to (fore)tell.
  
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abigfatcanofworms

It really is very powerful and impressive! And the rhythm and imagery, as Hobbo and John said, are wonderful.

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1. K.Hartless
  
  Thank you very much. I like to pen in places , as I starting to really realize how much visuals help me to write.
  
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  1. abigfatcanofworms
    
    Ah. That’s interesting. And a useful realization! Brilliant.
    
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  2. K.Hartless
    
    Thank you. It was a revelation to me as well.
    
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Fandango

I did not expect this to go where it went, and where it went was very powerful.

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1. K.Hartless
  
  Thank you very much. It was an innocent pen on the barber shop, but of course when it finally came out it had a deeper story to tell.
  
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Mister Bump UK

Reblogged this on Mister Bump and commented:

One of the things I find weird about WordPress is the range of emotions it evokes. By that, I mean that just like Forest Gump said, Life is Like a box of chocolates. You really don’t know what is coming next. I follow something over a hundred other blogs and revisiting WP from time to time, there is bound to be a new collection of posts to read. One post might be the funniest post I ever read, the next could be the saddest, and my awareness has to be able to flip between those two extremes, one post to the next.

I’m gonna give you fair warning, this post is the latter. As serious as they come. So, if you’re not in the mood, please bug out now.

The post that got me even suckered me in. I’d just finished writing a bantery comment to someone, so I still had a smile on my face. I noticed that the title had the word haitcut in it, and I automatically thought that it would be somebody whining that their hair had gotten too long during lockdown Don’t get me wrong, some of these whiney posts can be quite witty, so I opened it, still smiling from the previous post. And then I started reading…

And I just choked, there and then.

I posted the other day about my mum-in-law, who was having issues, let’s say, with the groundbreaking technology of a mobile phone. I’d like to talk some more here.

World War II was brewing for a long time before it all kicked off. So much so, that ships were arranged to evacuate as many children as possible from the potential war zone, to the relative safety of the UK. This programme was called KinderTransport. That word has a very obvious meaning to me, but I appreciate that it might not, to some of you.

Mum-in-law was actually born in Belgium. She was one of the last generations of children to come across on the KinderTransport. Now, she was born in January 1939, so she must have come across aged less than six months, because that’s when the war started. That in itself should raise a red flag to any parents out there. How on earth do you give up your six-month-old baby? Even if there is a war coming?

Once in the UK, she had no relatives so grew up in an orphanage. Mrs Bump talks about it, obviously from handed-down tales. Growing up, her life’s ambition was to get married. Here, now, I can look on that scornfully and say “is that all?” but it makes perfect sense. When your background is an orphanage, you crave the relative stability of a settled, married life.

So I look at this and, knowing full well what went on to happen in Europe, mum-in-law might so easily never have had the chance to live a life. And no m-i-l, no wife. That’s what made this post personal. That’s what made me choke.

We hear from time-to-time these days about holocaust-denial. I’ve got no time whatever for this argument. I am convinced of what actually happened in a nanosecond. If the Holocaust didn’t happen, would somebody please come and explain to my mother-in-law why sho has no family?

This poen was beautiful. Thank you, KK. I didn’t feel able to comment on it at the time, this post is my comment.

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1. K.Hartless
  
  So touched you reblogged this poem and that it felt like something that needed to be shared. The good fortune of your wife’s family that has lead to so much happiness for you and her, even more touching and miraculous. Thank you for adding your story to enrich my heart-felt thoughts.
  
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  1. Mister Bump UK
    
    Oh yeah, it touched me. I’m sorry Icouldn’t articulate that at the time.
    
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  2. K.Hartless
    
    Your responses are always worth waiting for.
    
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  3. Mister Bump UK
    
    you old smoothie!
    
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K.Hartless

Reblogged this on Yard Sale of Thoughts and commented:

This poem seemed relevant today, confronted with current events. Let me know your thoughts.

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Misky

This is such a brilliant piece of writing. Just amazing.

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1. K.Hartless
  
  Thank you kindly, Misky. 😀
  
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