סאַקאָ און וואַנזעטיס מיטוואָך
Sacco and Vanzetti's Wednesday
Work 232 of 440
Page 284. Beginning of 'Sako un Vanzetis mitvokh' (Sacco and Vanzetti's Wednesday). Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian anarchist immigrants executed in Massachusetts on August 23, 1927, in one of the most controversial cases in American history. The poem dates itself: 'Tsenter Oygust' (August 10th), in the 'gsise-mes-lees' (death-watch period — Hebrew-derived term for the 24 hours before execution). The staccato rhythm: 'mishpet. punkt. gzar. punkt. t-o-y-t' (trial. period. sentence. period. d-e-a-t-h) — the typewriter as death's instrument. The parenthetical: seven years they've eaten 'toyt onshtot broyt' (death instead of bread). The modern executioner: no longer masked with rope and hammer but a 'dzhentlmen' (gentleman) with manicured hands, pocket watch and fountain pen — bureaucratized death. Leivick, himself a political prisoner who escaped Siberian exile, identified deeply with such cases.
סאַקאָ און וואַנזעטיס מיטוואָך
באָסטאָן, מאַס.
צענטער אויגוסט, —
גסיסה־מעת־לעת.
טאָג אַוועק,
און נאַכט קומט אָן.
נאַכט קומט אָן און בײַסט אַרײַן
אַ ערשטן צאָן
אין דער אויפֿגעגאַנגענער לבֿנה.
באָסטאָן, מאַס.
מיטוואָך.
סאַקאָ און וואַנזעטיס מיטוואָך.
איבער די ביינדלעך
פֿון שרײַבמאַשינקע —
טאַנצט אַ מיידל
מיט פֿינגער פֿלינקע —
קלאַפּט שיין,
קלאַפּט ריין.
משפּט. פּונקט.
גזר. פּונקט.
ט—ו—י—ט.
(זיבן יאָר שוין
nאָכאַנאַנד,
עסט סאַקאָ,
עסט וואַנזעטי
אָנשטאָט ברויט —
טויט.)
און הינטערן שטול
פֿון טויט־קאַמער,
שטייט שוין גרייט,
ניט ווי אַמאָל מיט שטריק און האַמער,
ניט ווי אַמאָל מיט מאַסקן־פּנים,
נאָר פֿאַרפּוצט — אַ פֿראַנט —
מיט אַ מאַניקירטער, ווי אַ מיידלס, האַנט —
אין קעשענע אַ זייגער און אַ פּאָונטפֿען —
שטייט און וואַרט דער תּליון־דזשענטלמען.
Sako un Vanzetis mitvokh
Boston, Mas.
Tsenter Oygust, —
gsise-mes-lees.
Tog avek,
un nakht kumt on.
Nakht kumt on un bayst arayn
a ershtn tson
in der oyfgegangener levone.
Boston, Mas.
Mitvokh.
Sako un Vanzetis mitvokh.
Iber di beyndlekh
fun shraybmashinge —
tantst a meydl
mit finger flinke —
klapt sheyn,
klapt reyn.
Mishpet. punkt.
gzar. punkt.
t—o—y—t.
(Zibn yor shoyn
nokhanand,
est Sako,
est Vanzeti
onshtot broyt —
toyt.)
Un hintern shtul
fun toyt-kamer,
shteyt shoyn greyt,
nit vi amol mit shtrik un hamer,
nit vi amol mit maskn-ponim,
nor farputst — a frant —
mit a manikurter, vi a meydls, hant —
in keshene a zeyger un a poyntpen —
shteyt un vart der tlyen-dzhentlmen.
Sacco and Vanzetti's Wednesday
Boston, Mass.
Tenth of August, —
death-watch time.
Day gone,
and night comes on.
Night comes on and bites
a first tooth
into the risen moon.
Boston, Mass.
Wednesday.
Sacco and Vanzetti's Wednesday.
Over the little bones
of the typewriter —
dances a girl
with fingers nimble —
types pretty,
types clean.
Trial. period.
Sentence. period.
d—e—a—t—h.
(Seven years now
in a row,
eats Sacco,
eats Vanzetti
instead of bread —
death.)
And behind the chair
of the death-chamber,
stands already ready,
not as once with rope and hammer,
not as once with mask-face,
but dressed up — a dandy —
with a manicured, like a girl's, hand —
in pocket a watch and a fountain-pen —
stands and waits the hangman-gentleman.
Page 284. Beginning of 'Sako un Vanzetis mitvokh' (Sacco and Vanzetti's Wednesday). Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian anarchist immigrants executed in Massachusetts on August 23, 1927, in one of the most controversial cases in American history. The poem dates itself: 'Tsenter Oygust' (August 10th), in the 'gsise-mes-lees' (death-watch period — Hebrew-derived term for the 24 hours before execution). The staccato rhythm: 'mishpet. punkt. gzar. punkt. t-o-y-t' (trial. period. sentence. period. d-e-a-t-h) — the typewriter as death's instrument. The parenthetical: seven years they've eaten 'toyt onshtot broyt' (death instead of bread). The modern executioner: no longer masked with rope and hammer but a 'dzhentlmen' (gentleman) with manicured hands, pocket watch and fountain pen — bureaucratized death. Leivick, himself a political prisoner who escaped Siberian exile, identified deeply with such cases.
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