![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/planetwaves.net\/home\/homepix\/v2_homepix.jpg?resize=600%2C369&ssl=1\")
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[Editor’s Note<\/strong>: This article was originally published Oct. 10, 2006. For a more detailed introduction to this series, please see this link<\/strong><\/a>. The approximately eight articles and 15 photos in this series will be published evenings at about 6 pm Eastern Time.]<\/p>\n View of Birkenau. Posted without comment, except for this excerpt<\/a> from Adrienne Rich:<\/p>\n I came to explore the wreck.<\/span><\/p>\n The words are purposes.<\/p>\n The words are maps.<\/p>\n I came to see the damage that was done<\/p>\n and the treasures that prevail.<\/p>\n I stroke the beam of my lamp<\/p>\n slowly along the flank<\/p>\n of something more permanent<\/p>\n than fish or weed<\/p>\n the thing I came for:<\/p>\n the wreck and not the story of the wreck<\/p>\n the thing itself and not the myth<\/p>\n the drowned face always staring<\/p>\n toward the sun<\/p>\n the evidence of damage<\/p>\n worn by salt and sway into this threadbare beauty<\/p>\n the ribs of the disaster<\/p>\n curving their assertion<\/p>\n among the tentative haunters.<\/p>\n This is the place.<\/p>\n And I am here, the mermaid whose dark hair<\/p>\n streams black, the merman in his armored body<\/p>\n We circle silently<\/p>\n about the wreck<\/p>\n we dive into the hold.<\/p>\n I am she: I am he<\/p>\n whose drowned face sleeps with open eyes<\/p>\n whose breasts still bear the stress<\/p>\n whose silver, copper, vermeil cargo lies<\/p>\n obscurely inside barrels<\/p>\n half-wedged and left to rot<\/p>\n we are the half-destroyed instruments<\/p>\n that once held to a course<\/p>\n the water-eaten log<\/p>\n the fouled compass<\/p>\n We are, I am, you are<\/p>\n by cowardice or courage<\/p>\n the one who find our way<\/p>\n back to this scene<\/p>\n carrying a knife, a camera<\/p>\n a book of myths<\/p>\n in which<\/p>\n our names do not appear.<\/p>\n —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [Editor’s Note: This article was originally published Oct. 10, 2006. For a more detailed introduction to this series, please see this link. The approximately eight articles and 15 photos in this series will be published evenings at about 6 pm Eastern Time.] View of Birkenau. Posted without comment, except for this excerpt from Adrienne Rich: … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[357],"tags":[1789,361,373,362,360,117,363],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3763"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3763\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}