holocaust Sophie's Choice

The book by William Styron Sophie's Choice (Modern Library) ; the movie by Alan J. Pakula  Sophie's Choice 

SOPHIE’S VOICE: MIAMI BEACH

To see Styron’s plaint transformed on screen,

We were driven by impulse to the old 79th Street monoplex

Where Streep could be the conundrum for us.

And she was that choice character, losing as usual her self in the role,

Engulfing us in cellulose virtuosity,

Virtually dreaming us into the silvered holocaust.

And then began the sniffling, the weeping, the moaning –

But not from the flickering phantasma, not from our own catharsis,

But from the creaking seats, from the dense dark surrounding us –

From ancient voices, anguish welled up into a flood –

Hundreds of Sophies and their children.

So when the lights rose, we froze in our chairs to watch

The hoar survivors limp out into the night,

Scratch their weathered tattoos – their emblems

Of suffering – and stumble into the cool night air

Of America, free but for memory.

1981


This is one of my favorite poems created from a serendipitous moment.  I thought that it had been published previously, but I can't remember where I sent it (perhaps South Florida Poetry Institute), and it was not included in any of my books of poetry.  A friend and I had read the book Sophie's Choice and wanted to see the movie (both of which I highly recommend).  However, the movie was playing only on Miami Beach, which had many older Jews living there at the time.  Having decided to go only that evening, we arrived late and entered a darkened theater just in time for the opening of the movie.

After the movie when the lights came up, we realized that we had watched this movie about the holocaust in a theater filled with surviving victims of the holocaust, many of whom had the still-visible numbers on their arms tattooed by the Nazi death machine.  This realization added a poignancy to our enjoyment, twisting our guts and shortening our breaths.