Two Poems

TWO POEMS Berta R. Freistadt Three Married Women on Emigration Mrs. Noah: Ah that boat they called the ark Those tethered beasts With their teeth and their hooves They weren't so sweet I should clear up after all that mess I got one finger gone And a crushed instep for my trouble And the noise and the smell You think there were only two of each After all that time And sea sick Would the waters parted before us Like you had And when we landed it wasn't over yet The pushing, the jostling In that small space The waters took three weeks to go down That god should hurry himself Three weeks is a long time In the company of lions and tigers And wet. I tell you In Egypt you had dry at least. 228Nashim:Ajournai ofJewish Women'sStudies and GenderIssues, no.3.©2000 Two Poems Mrs. Moses: Dry! Don't talk to me Those waves, the wind Terrified we all were And after what we'd suffered The frogs, the lice and the rest Don't ask me And always that madman driving us on Making us afraid to look behind Faster and faster with no rest On foot most of the way No comfy boat for us And the heat and the damp How we perspired And those commandments Blocks of stone they said What do they know Heads of stone more like It was paper, papyrus We were fugitives travelling light Better stone in those conditions Originally twelve So now we got ten left And that's too many Ah America Mrs. Cohen: America. Ah America For some good, for some not so good All you hear is Made it in the USA Made it in America I remember Made it to America 229 Berta Freistadt Beware Invertebrates Bearing Fruit Snake sat smiling musing on God and Let there be Monday waiting for let there be snake. Snake's skin was shining like the dawn. Or the horizon before a storm. Snake sat smiling at Lillith, a good listener. How did he get so clever in six days flat? Smart as a whippet and twice as fast. She ranted on about her husband and dust. How they'd been sleeping in the dust. She was just not satisfied. So it was to shut her up in a way the idea of revenge or maybe boredom her voice was getting strident that was the word. Strident. Lillith loved it. took it to her bosom forgot it was his idea. She's always hated Eve the nubile upstart with the downcast eyes. Now she'd feel sorry for her 230 7Vo Poems be her friend they'd be demons together create havoc with chaos give Adam nightmares not clean their teeth. Oh, they'd have such fun. She was read to rush off in kidnap mode hooting and hollering cursing the man. Snake said hold on now box clever. Better not you go you'll never get in. They don't know me and I've a way with women with downcast eyes. I'll take her flowers or fruit or something. Women with downcast eyes like fruit. She'll listen to me And slithered off. How did he get so smart in so short a time? Clever as sixpence and twice as leery. Deep in the jungle Eve hears a noise. She's sweeping up the dust it never stops makes her thirsty. Turning she sees this shining invertebrate. With fruit. 231 ...