the Jewish girls are running
the Jewish girls are running
long black skirts
fanning out behind them
long dark pony tails
flapping against their
understated sweaters
they’re laughing, these
anachronistic young women
speaking Hebrew
shouting to one another
in voices they’ll soon lose
not far away, their future selves
are pushing strollers
filled with the next generation
mothers with perfect wigs
under knit hats, wearing
the same skirts and sweaters
with some allowance
for the changes of childbirth
they are beautiful
resigned, sad, dutiful
born into a life sentence
with no chance of parole
or so imagines the atheist
who finds it all a bit ridiculous
from his lofty perch
sitting all alone with
a copy of The Stranger
at a concrete chess table
in the park
18 April 2012
Brooklyn NY
/ / /
It’s National Poetry Writing Month! A poem a day, each day in April.
