I ~

 

In Brasse’s black and white photos,

you are a young girl with a round face

dropped into a flat, grey world,

26947 sewn on a striped wardrobe,

naked beneath these numbers.

 

What does color bring to you?

In color you move through our minds.

 

In color you are a movie star: Mia Farrow—

slightly protruding upper lip, swollen bottom

forms a dense shadow to your chin.       

 

In color you are a young woman

bleeding from within: pale skin

filters red to pink. This is the

girl you are at Auschwitz, Czeslawa.   

 

You are not a criminal.