The Golem and I
I was a scrawny kid with two left feet who stumbled over cracks in sidewalks and could not bear to see a caterpillar set afire or a butterfly stripped of its wings. I was always falling, from monkeybars and swings… Read more ›
Category Archives: From Infancy to Adolescence
Categories
Archive
Snipe Hunting in the Blue Ridge
To hunt for snipe requires A pirate’s cunning And a child’s willful suspension Of disbelief. No adults need apply. One whiff of them, The creature slinks away, Crinkling his snout And hoisting his tail In undisguised disdain. Nor is snipe… Read more ›
His Grandma’s Breath
Everything at his grandma’s house sighed with the burden of advancing age, the sagging sofa with its threadbare antimacassar, the chipped Italian figurines, the peeling grey linoleum on the kitchen floor. Even the parakeet hovering on his clipped wings had… Read more ›
State of Wonder
They named you Luna for the hints of moonlight in your charcoal eyes and Naia for the joy which flowed into our hearts like an untamed river the day that you were born. Reclining on a pillow in the penumbra… Read more ›
The Island
Your nervous old world father, With his giant mustache, Paced the lakefront Crying out your name And muttering to himself In frantic Hungarian. Supine in a leaky rowboat, Hidden from all prying eyes, We drifted across the lake, Barely lifting… Read more ›
Melodies
After half a century, You and I could pass each other On the street Without a glint of recognition. But every time I listen to a Chopin polonaise Or one of Billie’s songs, The memories come flooding back. I’m in… Read more ›
Mohsen
Beautiful kid. In yet another drunken rage, Your father’s locked you out again. You show up at my door At an hour when Only feral dogs Roam the cramped streets Scavenging for food. Beautiful kid, Your swollen face, A ghostly… Read more ›