I’m trying to write a poem about Birkenau that combines a sort of infernal glee on the part of the Nazis and infernal terror on the part of the Jews, Roma and homosexuals in their power. This is very hard, and made harder by the fact that I’m trying to use the arrangement of the words to indicate the intimacy caused by this madness. Coupled with the fact that I have no detailed knowledge of either Nazi ideology and indoctrinization or the functioning of a concentration camp from a prisoner’s point of view; this is an exercise in empathy [on all sides] that is currently beyond my capacity. Library, ho. This is the first poem I’m actually going to have to do research on. Any book recommendations from y’all?