Most years the Brooklyn cousins host us all / and we bring three homemade pies by way of thanks, ...
Read More Author's WebsiteMost years the Brooklyn cousins host us all
and we bring three homemade pies by way of thanks,
till Covid came and spread its lengthy pall.
How good to be back here among their ranks.
I greet the Washington and Boston crews,
the twins I try so hard to tell apart,
the widower who can’t cast off his blues,
all dear – though nearly strangers – to my heart.
I make my way to the kitchen in the back
amid the bustle and the dishes in the sink.
I roll my sleeves and fill the drying rack
then sneak out for some hummus and a drink
while a glaze of tamarind goes on the bird
and the vegans braise the “celebration roast.”
We all agree that life has been absurd.
Then we gather at the table for a toast.
This year they had to scrounge up twenty chairs --
the clan’s expanding faster than it dies.
We meet the latest, sweetest of the heirs:
Ari, a Chinese, Jewish and Croatian guy.
We figure out the somewhat distant ties:
he’s our grown sons’ third cousin once removed.
We spend the evening making goo-goo eyes.
How can a family gathering be improved?
If you trace Thanksgiving to its roots
it’s true you can’t avoid the genocide,
but we are not those sanctimonious brutes;
our Brooklyn cousins open their arms wide.
The fleeting youth gathers to watch / As their life dwindles / reminiscence of sweet sickly perfume...
Read More Contact the AuthorThe fleeting youth gathers to watch
As their life dwindles
reminiscence of sweet sickly perfume
Blankets the suffocating air
They watch their life dwindle
Except it doesn’t
It merely melds
Into a wad of gum
Sticky gooey pink gum
Or icy mint blue or pale citrus orange
Will soon be just another black spot
On the city pavement
Through bustling streets
Shiny black boots stomp by
While red leather sandals skip with glee
Gray muddy converse trips and falls
They once were white, but who could remember
The chewed and forgotten patiently waiting
For a crevice to hold
Twisting and morphing in order to fit
Consuming the ridges of worn rubber sole
But it won’t let go, stretching endlessly pulling her back
Pulling her to the only home it’s known for so long
Let me share this with you! Isn’t it Lovely!
But she only stares back with a furrowed brow
Grimacing at her findings
She frantically rubs her feet on the gravel
Scrubbing while muttering unholy words
“Today isn’t the day for this, fuck my life”
Fuck your life? What about mine?
Defeated and warped it could only stare back
As she strutted away, riffling in her back pocket
She pulled out a silver wrapper and took a deep breath
opening her mouth real wide
Popping in a brand-new piece
of sticky gooey pink gum