Zdenek Tmej, Czech Man Called Up for Work, 1943, by Andrew Miller

Czech Man Called Up for Work, photography by Zdenek Tmej (Czechoslovakia) 1943.

Zdenek Tmej, Czech Man Called Up for Work, 1943

Because of you, we won the war.
Communiqués sent to save Kursk Offensive
Go un-dispatched and lie
On the desk whose top covers your lap
Like an afghan. The phone that rings
Breathes with the voice of Goering
Crying with the news of new warplanes. Still
In your 19th-century mustache and cap
Slouched with eagle of the Reich, your head rests
Caught in the stag’s antlers of your hands.
What are you dreaming about?
Girls with wine and baskets, no doubt.
A mother’s voice like a shout of birdsong.
She is calling you, and you are a boy again
Wanting to follow the girls with their wine
Into an apple orchard. Anyway,
You never liked work, or Hitler,
And you are too old to start.

Andrew Miller

Andrew Miller: "​I am a poet, critic and translator with over eighty publications to my name. My poems have appeared in such journals as The Massachussett’s Review, Ekphrasis, Iron Horse,Shenandoah, Spoon River Review, Laurel Review, Hunger Mountain, Rattle and New Orleans Review. In addition, I have had poems appear in such anthologies as How Much Earth, Anthology of Fresno Poets (2001) and The Way We Work: Contemporary Literature from the Workplace (2008). Finally, I am one of the co-editors of The Gazer Within, The Selected Prose of Larry Levis (2001) and the author of Poetry, Photography Ekphrasis: Lyrical Representations of Photography from the 19th Century to the Present (2015). These many publications have come with a number of awards for my poetry. Four of my poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, three by Ekphrasis Magazine and one by Yemassee, and in 2002, David St John chose my poem “Hello My Lovely” as the best poem for Runes’ Magazine’s Mystery Prize. Additionally, in 2004, 2005 and 2006, my manuscript The Flesh of the Parables was short listed by the National Poetry Series and by Tupelo Press. I hold a PhD from Copenhagen University on the subject of ekphrastic poetry and photography."