Red Flag and Other Poems

by Tim Heerdink

Red Flag and Other Poems commands attention with its message of remembrance for the Holocaust and vigilance for truth and justice in a world filled with deceit and injustice. Such an event as the Holocaust must never be allowed to happen again.

78 pages, Paperback

Published June 8, 2018

About the author

Tim Heerdink is the author of Somniloquy & Trauma in the Knottseau Well, The Human Remains, Red Flag and Other Poems, Razed Monuments, Checking Tickets on Oumaumua, Sailing the Edge of Time, I Hear a Siren’s Call, Ghost Map, A Cacophony of Birds in the House of Dread, Tabletop Anxieties & Sweet Decay (with Tony Brewer) and short stories “The Tithing of Man” and “HEA-VEN2”. His poems appear in various journals and anthologies. He is the President of Midwest Writers Guild of Evansville, Indiana.

Reviews

[LeAnn L Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fine chapbook was written by a 24-year-old man who is intuitive enough to realize the generation from World War II is passing on, and the coming generations will forget, or not even know about the holocaust. Many touching insights and poems. The author was honored to receive a priceless letter, in May of 2016, from author and holocaust surviver, Elie Wiesel, before his passing. It made me cry, and I don't cry easily.

[Jake D.H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tim has created a series of poems that strike at the heart of the subject of the holocaust. One poem in particular "Outside the Walls of Concentration" is told from the perspective of an elderly holocaust survivor, in which she watches her great grandchildren take for granted things she would have done anything for when she was their age, is particularly impactful. If you like poetry or are interested in the subject of the holocaust, then this should be entertaining and possible warm your heart while breaking it at the same time.

[Breyaniah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review coming soon...

[Tony Brewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Red Flag and Other Poems, Tim Heerdink is doing two things: documenting, at times in gritty detail, the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis in WWII; and encouraging the reader to be mindful of casual fascism, surveillance, propaganda, and other contemporary “red flags” that signify a societal fall from grace into a mindless cruelty history may remember but we mere mortals seem doomed to forget.

The poems are often bleak, owing to their topic, and lean into their realism, with some lines or phrases in German, Polish, Portuguese and translated in copious footnotes. But Heerdink turns toward the light in pivotal works that anchor the collection, most notably in “When Wiesel Came Back from Auschwitz, He Came Back as a Bird,” which imagines venerated Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel arising phoenix-like from his debasing imprisonment at Auschwitz; and “Library of Hope,” a rumination on memory and literary uplift. Another standout, partly because it encapsulates a more personal narrative, is “On Cremation,” a thoughtful conflation of war, religion, and a friend’s suicide.

Red Flag closes, fittingly, with a letter to and a response from Elie Wiesel. Heerdink has made trips to Germany, including to Berlin and Auschwitz, where he witnessed the ruins of war and genocide. This conversation with an inspiration for the writing solidifies Heerdink’s goal with the book: both to remind the reader of the treachery we were once capable of as well as warn that we may be headed there again. There is another way.

Red Flag and Other Poems is an important collection, and Tim Heerdink has succeeded in the difficult task of relating the grievous facts of Nazi fascism and the Jewish Holocaust, while interweaving into that harsh reality a vigilant hope and cautious idealism for the future.

Proceeds from the sale of Red Flag and Other Poems go to the C.A.N.D.L.E.S. Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute, Indiana.

[Donna Frost · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met the author at an event we appeared at together in Nashville back in the fall of last year. I was so impressed by his work. I had to buy a copy of Red Flag and Other Poems. I could not put the book down once I started. It is a compelling collection of poems and stories, remembering the Holocaust and a reminder for us to stay awake in these days we are living in, to be certain history does not repeat itself. I was especially moved by "Outside the Walls of Concentration" about a Holocaust survivor in his twilight years, and "A Written Warning"which has a very timely message for today. His essay, "On Cremation" is a very personal piece that really hit me in the heart. I highly recommend "Red Flag and Other Poems". Thank you, Tim Heerdink, for this book and for the good work you are doing for mankind.

[Tammy Heerdink · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was a good read for the fact that you could tell the writer spoke from his heart. He has a passion to keep the Holocaust in the forefront of our minds so that it never happens again. He also gives back to C.A.N.D.L.E.S. Museum by giving the proceeds to the museum from his book.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very important work, Tim Heerdink instills in the reader the importance of never forgetting the sins of the past, thereby lessening our chances of repeating them. Through a learned and compassionate sense, he lays out the plight of those who against all odds survived and provides a voice to those who weren't as fortunate. An accomplished piece of literature.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

History comes alive reading these poems. May we never forget

[A.S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heerdink’s poems of the Holocaust cut deep, reminding us that we should never forget the atrocities of World War II.

[David O'Nan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tim is a wonderful and productive poet. This book will open a lot of eyes.