Milkwood’s Poem A Day #6 is the Found Poem form and has as its word prompt “gravity”.

A found poem is quite literally that.  Scanning through the written material of others a little snatch of verbiage here and there catch’s a person’s eyes and imagination and from that a new poem is written. Obviously, the possibilities are limitless.  With that in mind, there will be no examples shown other than the one that I will now write based on an oddity that I spied the New York Times’ bestsellers list for non-fiction.  In this case, the book is Killing the SS.  It’s a work by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard.  It is exactly what it sounds like a book written about the hunting of former Nazi war criminals.

This piece will center on Himmler…

Hunting Himmler
by Michael Romani

The most sinister man in Europe's clime
Himmler was, indeed, the devil incarnate
The planner of calculated cruelty
To find this man and make him pay this time
Would never be enough to ever compensate
The chaos he inflicted on humanity

Newsreel cameras capture moments of defeat
Delivering Germany into the victor's hands
The need for execution of some would be swift
There under the Allies' marching feet
A million heroes from the world's lands
Would search for Himmler on farm and cliff

Donning the disguise of Sergeant Henrich
Himmler hopes to hide among the refugees
Brought by his assisted destruction of society
Defeatism and cyanide for the German Reich
The Fourth Reich counts him among its devotees
Here in this post war state of staid gravity

In a vast conspiracy of industrialists
This insane movement cloaked itself underground
Knowing itself in a war it could not win
Masquerading as maverick and rugged individualists
The Nazi collaborators held themselves as bound
To help men like Himmler to begin again

In the end, escape became the only real possibility
Moving across Germany in a caravan of Mercedes Benz
They found themselves at the Elbe waiting to cross
Knowing the odds and all sense of probability
Made allies among villains as natural friends
One last chance seen for the Reich to avoid all loss

Mistake after mistake on this slow journey
Was only the continuation of Himmler's complicity
Turning against Hitler in the end, he sought compromise
He had not realized that truth sorts destiny
And that he was doomed to be one with past history
There would be no deal with any of the Allies

At checkpoint, Himmler's ego gets the best of him
And he and his companions are held prisoner of war
This disguise pushed aside to reveal his real identity
It was just one of those strokes of luck of now and then
When good fortune smiles and God allows an even score
Himmler's delusions are just part of his ill legacy

As he is strip searched again, he tries to hide
A cyanide capsule that he has managed to stick inside
Biting down the prussic acid is released and is deadly
Good Dr. Wells grabs Himmler's tongue taking in stride
His hand being bitten to avoid poison ingested to deride
The victory of the allies against Himmler so steadily

But there would be no resuscitating Himmler by Wells
A dead devil has met his just deserved adieu
To be consigned to an unmarked grave that he deserved
Farewell to this devil as he is sent straight to Hell
Not a man grieved as the unholy devil got his due
Where along side Hitler, his justice will be served

(c)  February 13, 2019   Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved