Political Convenience (July 27, 2018)

Hearing the phrase

“A bundle of contradictions”

My mind wanders

To a darker time.

When medical

And experimental research

Justified excuses

For barbaric torture

Those deemed

Subhuman.*

Satisfying the curiosity

Of Nazi researchers

And scientists.

Rightly so

Victorious Allied forces

Condemned Nazi’s austerities

Against Jewish communities

And other ethnic minorities.

Yet

Deadly silent

About LGBTQ+ inmates.

LGBTQ+ were

Lowest of the low

In Nazi’s concentration camps

Among guards and inmates.**

Often forced

Enduring years longer

After liberation

In prison.***

A history

Deliberately ignored.

Only LGBTQ+ information table

And campus posters

Educated me

During university years (1990-4).

Ironically

Openly embraced

These monsters’ research

During the Cold War

With the Soviet Union

And its allies.

As the building blocks

For jet plane and space programs

We take for granted

Today.

Therisa © 2018

Author's note:: A poem for Poets United’s midweek motif writing prompt: "a bundle of contradictions" or Anne Frank's last letter.

* http:///www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005168

** https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wike/LGBT_history.html

*** http://www.thepinktriangle.com/history/symbol.html