Saturday, January 7, 2017

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.

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