Bumper Sticker Poem (Live Free or Die?) (Thinking of Germany and Bad Times)
This is a fresh-off-the-brain-press poem written for dVerse Poets Pub poetics prompt. Today, it is to write something inspired by a bumper sticker.
So What if You Really Did Live in Germany in the 1930’s?
‘Live free or die’
easy enough to sigh
‘let me be me’
when it’s not really a choice
of to be or not to be,
but the voicing of
a complaint, the price
of sainted gas
is too damn–
(kind of half-assed,
if important in its way),
but what if your neighbor,
even the guy you’re sore at,
who plays the tuba at two,
and happens to be a Jew,
is dragged off in the night?
In your window, the light
of a seering torch;
on your porch
the pound of booted step;
and your wife has wept
with fear, your
children so very near,
and you know,
yes, although you know,
it’s terribly wrong,
and you long
(somewhere)
(somehow)
to dare
not to bow
to whatever inner voice
now says, the choice
is not your own.
Okay, you’ve got a gun
but you’ve also got
a son, and
they’ve taken his,
that neighbor–who–
he had one too–
not yours,
yours, who purrs
as he sleeps,
you see the peeps
of dreams beneath his eyelids–
what do you do then?
Tags: bumper sticker poem, bumper to bumper poem, dVerse Poetry Pub, image of boot, imagining Nazi Germany poem, iPad art, Karin Gustafson, live free or die poem, manicddaily, ManicDDaily poetry, political poetry poem
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ManicDDaily 
October 8, 2011 at 2:56 pm
a lot of interesting concepts:
1
the price
of sainted gas
is too damn–
2
and the jew who played the tuba
i don’t want to think about what it would be like then, i’m the jew.
October 8, 2011 at 3:16 pm
It’s so hard to even contemplate now. But what’s more worrisome is when people don’t think about it–deny, or just neglect–
October 8, 2011 at 2:57 pm
my parents were both born in 1927 in germany and sometimes they told us a bit about the war and the horrible things that happened…my father fled when they built the wall – it never should’ve happened and hopefully we learned our lessons… well written…and rather die than live in slavery…
October 8, 2011 at 2:58 pm
i recently wrote a poem on this topic…in case you wanna read..
October 8, 2011 at 2:59 pm
wow…i like it…it is a little all over but then cuts straight…the can make some pretty flip statements on our ‘bumper stickers’ without paying it much mind but you make us stop and think….
October 8, 2011 at 3:06 pm
I guess it’s a question most of us are lucky enough not to have to answer. Let’s hope we’ve learned enough of history to never allow it to happen again. Brilliant poem.
October 8, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Wow! A ride my mind has yet to get off of! Too many are willing to deny just how awful we can be…writes like this force us to remember, and hopefully, make the choice to not let it happen again. Bravo!
October 8, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Thought-provoking and strong piece.
October 8, 2011 at 4:17 pm
Yes, the slide from discontent to persecution seems to happen way too easily and you can see some of it happening now, with anti-immigrant fears and other hatreds all being stoked for political hay, because while the choices are life-changing and personal, the whole thing is ultimately about power. That ultimate choice you write of here is one I hope I never have to face.
October 8, 2011 at 5:21 pm
You express the deep pain of this tragic time in history. So many beautiful lives were wiped out. An appropriate poem for today, Yom Kippur.
October 8, 2011 at 6:08 pm
Wow, power packed in a little package today. I am a pacifist, my father was a conscientious objector who did community service rather than serve in Vietnam. These are good, hard questions we always need to ask.
October 8, 2011 at 8:17 pm
Really powerful piece. It’s easy to SAY how much braver we would have been, but do we really know?
October 8, 2011 at 10:04 pm
live free or die,
love the idea, and your words give us a lot of insights, thanks for the cool entry.
October 9, 2011 at 12:19 am
I cannot even imagine what it must have been like to live this scary time. Thanks for writing about such an important part of history.
October 9, 2011 at 4:54 am
Live free or die is easy enough to say. If faced with that real choice, it would be a hard one. Poem paints a serious and realistic picture, not sure one would even think in the form of some cheerful sounding slogan if faced with this. Thanks for your insightful poem.
October 9, 2011 at 5:35 am
As a parent, and citizen I made it a point to educate my children on the horrors of that time.. It was/is important we remember and also to hope history never repeats itself..
Nicely done here..
October 9, 2011 at 10:12 am
This is a poem that begs to be read out loud, voice giving depth to every phrase. As odd as it may sound considering the theme of the poem, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it… twice.
Beth
October 9, 2011 at 11:07 am
oh wow, I love the way you ended this with that haunting question. brilliant and I love the line – whatever inner voice
now says, the choice
is not your own. Just magnificent in meaning, challenge, rhyme, rhythm and flow. Nice, nice work. thank you!
October 9, 2011 at 11:53 am
Your poem is very well written. I love the imagery and the rhythm. Well done.
October 9, 2011 at 11:55 am
I cannot believe that’s a real bumper sticker. But, your poem is very real, giving voice to humanity’s greatest shame and perpetration against itself. I wish we had at least learned not to persecute one another, shame one another, hurt one another. Giving voice to these things is so important and empowering. xxxj
October 9, 2011 at 1:24 pm
Hi Jenne–actually it is on the license plates of cars from New Hampshire, and is also a bumper sticker for people from other states.
K.
October 9, 2011 at 12:51 pm
Mourn, hope it eases over time.
Great write and excellent voice.
It was a very graceful type of rant.
Expressive too! Thank you.
October 9, 2011 at 3:53 pm
It always seems to boil down to fear… love and fear.
October 9, 2011 at 4:54 pm
your poem is interesting…intriguing because, I look around me today and I easily see how it could happen…I think it could happen here, today, in the USA…we have so many GD idiots on the loose.
okay…you poem has aroused me.
good job. that’s what a poem’s supposed to do.
thanks.
October 9, 2011 at 7:43 pm
wow, this really hits a chord with me…the terror and misery they must have lived…and those that could/would do nothing about it, the guilt they were left with-all this shown vividly in your words.
October 9, 2011 at 8:10 pm
very unique bumper sticker.
amazing thoughts on it.
October 10, 2011 at 6:19 am
Incredibly powerful thoughts coming from my little elephant friend… I’ve often wondered what it must have been like to sit in the night and listen to the screams of Jewish neighbors as they were being carted off, and their belongings being rifled through. The sorrow and guilt that must have been present, the sheer inability to do anything about it lest you become damned yourself, and the absolute guttural sadness that surely afflicted them after saying a quick prayer to God thanking Him for the fact that it was they, and not one’s own family. It is hard to imagine Karin, but not impossible. In a way, the entire country was victim to the hidden holocaust and political correctness. Yes, political correctness caused that incredible agony. Many fine points to ponder here…
October 12, 2011 at 2:25 pm
enjoyed it.
well done.
October 12, 2011 at 2:40 pm
Thanks.