All Comments on 'Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh Again'

In commenting on this poem I could not just look at its qualities but found myself sharing what reading it invoked in me.

In facing this poem you need to take a deep breath. It’s a difficult poem to digest; difficult to comprehend; it’s made of difficult materials. It does not make any efforts to please you or to make it easy on anyone.

At the last station of the seemingly unstoppable victory march of the western civilization, there waited the last stations of the concentration camps, waiting to burn not only the human cargo which the trains fed them, but as the poem correctly suggests also that civilization itself.

Where the western civilization seemed to have determined to self destruct there awaits our poet to examine our state of humanity. Have we improved any? Have we absorbed or learned any lessons as to not to repeat what we have been doing so badly?

If you draw a straight line between the first “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” and this one, you could be reminded of the chilling expression: ‘in a place where they burn books they will end up burning people’. The truth is, it all starts in a much more subtle way: not accepting other people; not accepting disagreement; other’s beliefs; otherness. The beginnings could be even as subtle as shaming. We all do that at time. We can all decide to change. Now it’s on us to make some serious decisions. We can further loose our souls (call it god call it Yahweh) and put and end to all. Or we can try to regain our faith in… ourselves

Two sentences on lobomao. I can’t think of another poet here who stands with such an open stance towards the world to absorb large spiritiual/cultural vibes, like a metaphysical global positioning device, then broadcast his findings to us through his poems. Lucky are those who read those poems.

This poem was mentioned in the Archival Review thread, in a picking through Lit's archive of over 38,000 poems.

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