Poem: Immigrants at Central Station, 1951

It was sad to hear The train's whistle this morning At the railway station. All night it had rained. The air was crowded With a dampness that slowly Sank into our thoughts - But we ate it all: The silence, the cold, the benevolence Of empty streets. Time waited anxiously with us Behind upturned collars And space hemmed us Against each other Like cattle bought for slaughter. Families stood With blankets and packed cases - Keeping children by their sides, Watching pigeons That watched them. But it was sad to hear The train's whistle so suddenly - To the right of our shoulders Like a word of command. The signal at the platform's end Turned red and dropped Like a guillotine - Cutting us off from the space of eyesight While time ran ahead Along glistening tracks of steel. -Peter Skrzynecki

* element of child 's tone → child's experience ; skrzynedci Is telling a ↳ repeated we of similes suggest a seemingly simplistic approach

stay from his childhood which adds to the child - like tone

→ use of first person narration connects the immigrant story tothe reader

g-unhappy

tone food created

Tantum

→ > a foreboding journey

= connotations of community +

coming together

-0-doeadirgtedofwendadoiwiy

#packed; too

maypeople ; had to breathe -

dangerous

dreary

atmosphere

aee.asIiFtoIym.gtmakamaymntnonanhaean.ea.mnEa.aa.teattegEs9ITaapyenosIIthEgeYeTEh.smYem@Tjguxtappgqeg.t.he.s

hip they came • Auotatia on + train where the"

air was crowded"

- yearninggPngnntgggkwofYewnYfgrtgYmgMlt@tslassneoousaboutwhatcouidcome.m

ade more nervous many what was

] #knihgdbbdgetntwtojetiw"IFEtLgtgIEa physics taxing journey[seem #"mgasiagnegotstnwngtgnwktions with holocaust +

¥:*:*

.FI?IIIIjFft*I#II.E.IEEIDYenm.tpersonification oftf[f]

.pk#hmFamadYYeabj.ua!gtaYaeniYigbmraa:iiy=_f

Whistle in charge of their Cinmiganty

movements,their journey,

and their

ycut off

,

'death'

-loss of the

known

futures ...

=psimile :guillotine :

.

goodor bad end to the

journey?

- forgotten people*adf.fr?aEnE?ghIIftenTImmtiIIsheIdg!n.s*atpap..ed.thjowug:saatobeteavigIscdnte;heaoIhmtkiei'

will be taken ; the destination Is the reason (as much as

y gin point of deputies . tianya.name?IIy

↳ positive connotations → juxtaposed with the emotionless mechanics of steelalong the glistening trades

"

that guidethe next step in the journey

.