Genevieve Laursen of 11RN entered the Paul Seideman Scholarship with a piece of writing and was declared a runner up for Year 11-13 for the whole of New Zealand.

This poem is about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in WW2. There are 3 parts to the poem. The first part of the poem is about the Jews sewing German uniforms in workshops. The second part is about Jews hiding from Nazis in bunkers. The third part is about the resistance fighting the Nazis while they set the ghetto on fire.

Spit, Silence, Breath    By Genevieve Laursen

Our hearts rattle

Inside their brittle cages

Feeble hands tiresomely labour

Vacant expressions flit from face to face

A jeering word

Sparks us into action

The lull of machines

Ground my spinning mind

Sweat-soaked garments

Tedious stitching

Fill my thoughts

Grey on grey on grey

Black on white on red

Hatred boils inside of me

But I dampen it down in fear,

That I may scorch myself

Still, with every uniform I mend

A drop of spit falls from my lips

—

The silence is heavy

Strangling us like a snake

Potent odour burns my nostrils

Tempting me to choke

Oxygen deprived lungs

Refuse to release

A slight echo

Warns us of their presence

It is dark down here

Yet I see our thin bodies alight

For hunting us down

Are shadows

Predators and Prey

An infant begins to fuss

My own wail freezes on my tongue

The cry stills

The mother’s empty arms quiver

Her tears inaudible

—

A blanket of ash smothers me

I press my fingers on my heart

Which pounds to the beat

Of the artillery piano

I take cover

In the rising smoke

My eyes sting

Though I won’t cry

He sees me

Before I see him

Pistol aimed at my head

Molotov cocktail directed for his

The world pauses

A shot fired

A bomb thrown

In pools of pain

We both lie

Surrendered to death

Then a voice finds me

Soothing me to sleep

It whispers, ‘Your death is not in vain

Your death does not show failure

It shows your spirit

It shows fighting determination

To defy the fate that you were conscripted to

Your last breath speaks a thousand words

Reverberating throughout the ages

I will remember you’