hiSStory

Waffen-SS blood types are tattooed in black—on the white flesh of underarms (eight inches above the elbow): A, B, AB, or O. This lesser known secret sits unnoticed in dark, chalky corners of holding cells, aside piles of gold fillings, eyeless eyeglasses, and other pilfered parts ‘n’ parcels of so-called Rats. But these shadows split on given days, when the sunshine lays way to stray, hopeful seeds bearing bounties of weedy flowers from the likes of creeping speedwell, broad-leaved dock, and bittercress . . . the soft, hard color of memory, the color of hiSStory, the color of blood.