We Are Closing Our Apologies
A locked and boarded department store
A bakery that is no more—
This is how, it seems to me,
Christians close their apologies.
An end to the never-ending,
A glance up high into the trees,
Terminus to condescending,
The songbirds’ mouths now all shut,
The vessel empty, the cord is cut—
In suchlike manner do songbirds choose
To close our apologies to the Jews.
No more the ‘anti-Semite’ cap
To wear upon our tousled hair,
It always was a clumsy fit
Never looked right in the sun
Toss it now, get rid of it!
Leave as well Steinberg’s book,
Cohen’s movie, the dour look
Of Gershon and his Jewish mom,
Halakah of the grave, be gone!
A vestibule of hope protect
A new enlightened intellect,
***
A new and improved detergent
To wash away the Jewish Marxists
Who understood the rules of the footrace
As they hotfooted from the left
To the right side of the political spectrum,
And then lo and behold back to the left again!
Ready…set…go!
The race is on. Don’t be slow!
That ignus fatuus is dead now, thank God.
Jewish “suffering” was an indoor houseplant
That grew out of a tiny clay pot, but ended up
Eventually covering
The entire living room window
And blocking out the sun.
We are closing our apologies because
There is nothing left to apologize for,
Nothing left to apologize for,
And because no one could really remember
Why we were apologizing in the first place,
As a maggot was found in the pudding.
***
Simka, Simka!
I’ll be damned! Whatever happened to you?
Woodstock, Monterey,
Cantata on a drizzly day
LSD potpourri with wild and free casuistry
On and on…
A thousand apologies cracked open and stirred
Into an omelet of failure, as Jews carried the banner of
Equality and civil rights—through Mississippi, Europe,
Finally to the Southern border of the US,
Hell, everywhere but in Palestine!
Everywhere but Palestine!
***
Woe unto you,
Scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
***
Penetrating benevolence:
Mother preparing dinner
Father smiling donnishly out on the porch;
The table is all set, oh yes—
Finest china. Polished silver.
Forks, knives, spoons,
Crystal goblets most exquisite—
Now the finery is gone; now only the dust remains.
Isn’t it a marvel?
Isn’t it a pity?
Verily streams of blood,
The traffic in the city!
Standing up for rights—that’s fine—
Everywhere but Palestine!
Everywhere but Palestine!
Inconsistencies and consistencies
Inhabiting the mind like litanies
Hypocrisy…hypocrisy…hypocrisy…
This cup is the new testament in my blood
Which is shed for you,
But behold the hand of him that betrayeth me
Is with me on the table.
With us on the table, yes—
A mohel with a new
Mathematical game theory
To calculate the probability of governments
To kowtow, roll over, play dead
And so…
***
A locked and boarded department store
A bakery that is no more—
This is how, it seems to me,
Christians close their apologies.
An end to the never-ending,
A glance up high into the trees,
Terminus to condescending,
The songbirds’ mouths now all shut,
The vessel empty, the cord is cut—
In suchlike manner do songbirds choose
To close our apologies to the Jews.
