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  • Karen Alkalay-Gut (bio)

I

"Where did you put my trousers?"The old man confronts me in YiddishAs I walk from the elevatorTo the floor of the brain damaged patients,

Looking for my father.

I'm unable to pass, as he stands,With urine-stained shorts, staring me down.

"The nurse," I stammer, "Maybe you left themIn your room, you look fine. . . ."

But neither of us move.

Until my mother walks by,And in passingdispersed the confrontation

With, "Oh, a platoon of soldiersCame and took them away."

II

Nem mir aroyf!"Pick me up!" she screams,Lying on the floor by the chair,You wrap your arms [End Page 119] Around her frail bodyAnd return her to the chair.

Nem mir aroyf!She screams again,Sliding down as soonAs you turn your back.

"Wait, it isn't pick me up."I suddenly realize. "It'sTake me up."

III

Mir iz gut,my mother whispersthrough the tubeas I bend over her hospital bed"I'm fine."

And I come home relieved,Blocking the pain of her widowhood,Of her broken hip, of her love,

And make my bed in her libraryAnd read Shalom AleichemTo fall asleep:"Mot'l the Son of Peisi the Cantor.

Mir iz gut, he sings,"I'm an orphan." [End Page 120]

Karen Alkalay-Gut

Karen Alkalay-Gut was born in London during the Blitz. Her education in the United States was supplemented by Yiddish Shule and extended Bible lessons in Yiddish. She teaches at Tel Aviv University. Her poetry books include The Love of Clothes and Nakedness (Sivan), High Maintenance (Neamh), and So Far So Good (Sivan). Her latest book, Open Secret: Poetry and Popular Culture (Washington) will be available this Fall.

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