Musée de la Résistance – Vaucluse

by Adam Elgar
The Writer's Block
Honorable Mention, October 2008
Judged by Hélène Cardona and John Fitzgerald


(Lavez les épluchures de pommes de terre, les jeter dans l’huile
bouillante. C’est aussi bien que les vraies frites.

Wartime advice on food economy, 1942 — from a newspaper on display
in the museum)

In truth it nobly celebrates defeat,
confronts the shame by putting it on show,
tells later generations how deceit
seeps into victims’ veins, makes sure we know

that victors try to put a price on air
and claim there never was a word for ‘free’.
Starvation is the trump card. Pommes de terre:
prochaine distribution — mardi.

It’s all about the lies that people tell
to keep themselves afloat till truth comes back.
When brutal fact says il n’y a plus de lait

you have to come up with a counter-spell,
revive the rage that we complacent lack.