Magdalena Ball - City Child - 2 - The Singer

This is a revision from a poem I had up on 366, which I’ll be including in City Child - my memoir section or book (still not sure which way I’ll go with this - pls feel free to comment.  I might just put them in chronological order and call it a verse memoir...).

The Singer

She gave up her career

the Borscht Belt

glamorous dresses and sexy heels

victory rolls and applause

exchanged for family

we all knew it

but there was no resentment

her music was DNA shared freely

she sang with breakfast

It’s so easy to say good morning

her voice put me to sleep at night

just a baby’s prayer at twilight

as if all of life were a Broadway musical

that would resolve to a happy ending

the world was full of trouble

I grew up knowing that well

danger lurked as knives and guns 

filled the nights

in the streets of our tenement

her house was always safe

I would sit at her kitchen bench

while she cooked in a frilly apron

laughing at her own jokes

percolating an endless pot of coffee

and singing songs 

in a rich vibrato

all about war

love and the endless river.