Playing God
Rent from DeepDyve- Playing God
for Isaac Bashevis Singer
God, also known as Bashevis,rewards the loving old coupleby having their old stove leak gasso they can die together on Shabbas.I first fantasized my aged parents goingdown together in a plane crash.But what about the other passengers and crew?I revised: while the plane lands safelymy parents are ejected from their seats,fly off into space holding handsas in a Chagall painting.These days it's not death and the maiden.It's disease and decline and decrepitude.My father died first, mind intact, perfectly ableto see her wasting body and vacant face.What happened inside her those last four years?Vivid earthy memories like the best home movies,says God, also known as Bonnie.
Bonnie Lyons has published three books of poetry: Hineni, In Other Words, and Meanwhile, as well as individual poems in many journals. She is a professor of English at the University of Texas at San Antonio and frequently writes about American Jewish literature.
