Jesus this is heart wrenching. It's funny how such a gentle voice could easily describe such violence and acts of terror. It made me think of my own grandfather and what painful family histories he must hold. Beautiful work.
"Hate is a strong word, but it is the only strength I have left. How am I to forgive the men that severed the trunk of my family tree, and used its timber in the fireplaces of their own homes."
It is crazy to hear so many beautiful words and feel like you have none to reply with but here I sit, not sure exactly if I can say anything to that. Breathless perhaps. Grateful maybe. All the same very beautiful word choice
Not only is this poem so powerful, but his delivery is just incredible. I am so happy I stumbled across this. So happy that tears are actually falling down my face because this is a beautiful piece of poetry.
I just read the poem in written form. There are some lines that are not said in this version, or that have been changed somehow. I won't write them all but here are two that stuck out to me. "Grampy's father is hiding in an oven (he doesn't know the irony of that yet)" "There are nights I'm kept awake by the birthday songs of children I never let live (they often look like you)"
I'm binge watching videos of Phil right now and for sure this one will leave an unforgettable emotion in me. I remember the first time I read a history book, I cried, like an idiot imagining how does those old people felt at war. Crying their lungs out 'cause that's the only thing they could do, perhaps. It brought back those feelings, feelings of pain that I wish I had experience so I can understand them more so than reading them.
being mexican this hit me hard. our existence is product of the rape of our native ancestors and gentrification of native culture into spanish assimilation. catholic religion, traditions, food, even our language, spanish, spoken on borrowed tongues. of course there are natives that speak their native language (zapotec, purepecha, nahuatl etc etc) but there are so few left, theyre such a minority now. the fact that we live in this inbetween and never take the time to consider it, just, wow. this hit hard. i will always love phil.
those are lines delivered that just slap me in the face and demand to be heard. so powerful. I keep returning to this every time just to hear my favourite lines.
Thank you for sharing and allowing pain to be spoken. i love when poems can and do make you look at yourself or in this case family history however painful it may be. Again thank you.
Some really haunting imagery in this piece. Plus, the Romeo and Juliet references and lines were woven beautifully into this piece. It's difficult to reference a play like that without it sounding cliche or cheesy, but somehow Phil Kaye does it perfectly.
wow, words that have so much meaning and that causes thought. This's so refreshing that I close my eyes and let the words touch my brain like raindrops.
WOW... i think this poem is going to be the reason i'm going to start writing poetry, i've been writing but this changed my whole perspective on what it really is
Half of his family is Japanese, the other American/Jewish. One grandfather had his house burnt down, and the other was sent out by the US army to burn houses down. He uses Montague and Capulet in this situation, because these two families don't seem like they should combine. The Jewish part of his family was also in the Holocaust. He's pretty much talking about how odd it is that these two families, so different and so against each other, got together. He also puts in their horrible history.
They are friends though not siblings. They met each other in college and happen to be really similar. Their siblings have the same name. Its crazy cool.
@MySuperstar09 They aren't related. They're just really good friends. You HAAAVE to see the one they did together. Explains everything and is beautifully written
