The Grief Poet

On the eve of their executions, three of history's most tyrannical figures encounter poet Karl Shapiro and enter a philosophical discourse that will further illuminate their devious impact on humanity. With his first play, author G.A. Cuddy gives an intimate look into the profligacy, horror, and depravity that accompany the evil lurking in the souls of the intemperate.


The Unknown Prisoner

by G.A. Cuddy


Boots trample over the broken glass

That earlier cut all the children's paths To unknown lands so far away Suitcase refugees on a November day. 

Assembling the garrisons so strong

With no question as to right or wrong

While bayonets fixed on an old man's eyes Ensured the reverence for a statesman's lies. 

We did not have the proper chance to yield Nor tend to the poppies in the fields As discord became the prevailing hymn Enforced by beasts in their leather trim. 


The world awaited a response

From a people huddled, but not ensconced Upon their knees at worship's hour They were no challenge for a tyrant's power. 

The systematic killings raged

Through stormy nights and dreary days

Until there were no bodies to burn

After tears of millions were never heard. 

'It could not happen here,' was said

By those safely smug at length from the dead With oceans wide to shield their views From the totality that war pursues. 


Redemption is measured in degrees

For despots humanity will never free

From the hangman's noose atop the boards Giving a fond 'Farewell' to men abhorred. 

Hearts broken from the battles raged

After political debates on a global stage Align the few bankers as profiteers On the blood of so many bathed in fear. 

The evil of the treacherous kind

Inspires those lock-stepped a pace behind Replacements, many, in zealous rages Against poets yearning to fill their pages.


Author_Bio: G.A. Cuddy attended the University of California at Los Angeles and served in the United States Marine Corps. He has also written Where Hash Rules, In The Clearing Stands a Boxer, and First Fiction (Fall '14 release). He is a resident of Charlestown, Massachusetts. This is his first play.


Keywords: Poetry, Karl Shapiro, WWII, History, Third Reich, War Crimes, Tyranny, Gallows, The Holocaust