she’s from New York;
a nice Jewish girl,
the kind Mom wants me to marry,
the kind you can
take to Rosh Hashanah dinner
and won’t be grossed out
by gefilte fish.
she talks with newyorkforce
and loud –
like shouting over a thousand horns
of cars in a traffic jam.
gold necklace
and a gold bracelet
and a white hairpin
and brown eyes
and such real Jewish brown eyes
real brown
real New York Jewish brown
New York is a weird place
i’m afraid of it
i’m afraid of girls from New York
i’m afraid of new girls.
i know the battle will be lost;
it’s been scripted already,
written on Rosh Hashanah
sealed on Yom Kippur
like some kind of Jewish Ragnarok
and in the end i’m left alone
to drink the morning dew and rebuild.

________________

Benjamin C. Krause is from Youngstown, OH and currently applying to MFA programs. His chapbook, Classifieds and Other Poems, was published in February 2010 by erbacce-press and includes 14 poems that take the form of classified ads in newspapers. His work has also recently appeared in Tipton Poetry Journal, The Literary Bohemian, Ophelia Street, and Foundling Review.

Posted by Leif. View all posts by Leif
Thursday, April 1st, 2010 1:23 pm
Categories: Archives, Issue 3.4