-storm front-

last night I watched a dramatization

of the “Wannsee Conference” on television

as its participants discussed plans for the 

“Final Solution” then I went to bed.

in the morning, all the initial necessities of beginning

a common day were completed with, if not speed, accuracy.

I settled-in.

the winter months here are hard

and as a community, we've planned for snow
forecasted later today at upwards of two feet,
calling-in the fleet of fierce machinery.

afterward, the junior high school entrepreneurs

with scoop shovels perched on their shoulders,

treading snow in groups of three or five,
will mount their campaigns, calculating
each driveway’s earning potential.

when the time comes, I’ll negotiate.

as of now, the heavy overcast is deepening.

last night the “Wannsee Conference”
went-off without a hitch.

one hundred thousand here,

two hundred thousand there...

the S.S. Major suggested shooting them.
he is mocked by his superiors as a young
officer of the Third Reich with much to learn.

the S.S. Colonel argued for electrocution.
his experiments at the "Institute" on the infirm
and mentally defective showed "promising results."

they plotted the route of the trains to their destinations.

they considered the problems of

            cleaning the inevitable soiling

            inside the chambers.

            then they paused for lunch.

over schnitzel, the architect of the "Nuremberg Laws" said:
“Sterilization”.

he said: “We simply cut them off at this generation”.

the S.S. General interrupted:

"Six thousand is an equation easily solved".

he said: "Six million and the machinery
must be set in place". 

he said: “Just get them on the trains”.

the snow is beginning to fall heavily
and it looks like two feet, easy.
It's not a wind-blown snowfall.
It falls vertically and silently

like a requiem.
the driveway is long.
when the kids show up I’ll offer them
forty bucks, flat.