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    Poems Hidden in the Secret Annex
    Poems Hidden in the Secret Annex
    Poems Hidden in the Secret Annex
    Ebook37 pages18 minutes

    Poems Hidden in the Secret Annex

    By Alice Pfeifer

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    About this ebook

    The title poem for this collection considers one of the simple everyday joys denied to Anne Frank during her cramped life in the secret annex. These poems include personal observations and memories, spiritual and biblical reflections, and social commentary. All are rooted in the life of a US Catholic sister whose work has taken her to several different US states and two foreign countries.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAlice Pfeifer
    Release dateJul 2, 2012
    ISBN9781476262413
    Poems Hidden in the Secret Annex
    Author

    Alice Pfeifer

    Since 1975, Alice Pfeifer has been a Roman Catholic sister. She has a master's degree in English from Marquette University and a master's degree in Pastoral Studies from St. Joseph's College of Maine. Over the years has worked as a teacher, editor, writer, and foreign missioner.

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      Book preview

      Poems Hidden in the Secret Annex - Alice Pfeifer

      Foreword

      The title poem for this collection considers one of the simple everyday joys denied to Anne Frank during her cramped life in the secret annex. These poems rotate among personal observation and reminiscence, spiritual and biblical reflection, and social commentary. Welcome to my world -- I hope it feels both familiar and strange to you. Maybe somewhere in the middle, among its lights and shadows, you and I can meet.

      1. Earth Mother

      She's a wild one, all right,

      despite the poets'

      praises. Where I sow

      rose bee balm and purple phlox,

      she's sure to scatter

      errant sunflowers --

      bold and brazenly gold, like

      Sousaphones among the strings

      in the King's Philharmonic.

      2. Waning Half-Moon

      You are neither this nor that,

      uncommitted heart

      that knows what it does

      not want, but not what it does.

      Where the old ones sleep,

      closed and locked half-doors

      keep feet safely inside but

      minds footloose -- as a kindness,

      we are supposed to suppose.

      3. Dumdums Along the Potomac

      You can always tell who's first

      to shout, Charge! when squads

      strike a threatening pose

      like green GIs in molded

      plastic rows -- who's first

      to fight the war that

      bursts from one small man's brow like

      Athena's dumb cousin. In

      place of thought -- adrenaline.

      4. Saint Joan

      Don't forget that churchmen burned

      Saint Joan at the stake

      centuries before

      other churchmen canonized

      her. God's ways are not

      your ways: I say this

      to men

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