Lamentation and Apology
(The Last Jew)
I
Sam is the man
(or an unreasonable facsimile thereof)
chimes chorus rolling back jagged memory
sitting on stools of round, red discus
revolving counter-clockwise toward neon letters
obtrusively screaming “Sam K___ Confectioners”
only I-aphid ripping open
breakfast of ex-champions paid for
by reaching down to bottom of atomic feet
removing nuclear Keds to
surrender one-dollar-forty-nine cents
in malodorous coinage whereupon
Sam recoils rabbinically indignant
as porkchops broiling on temple altar-
Oi, sacriledge of smelly booty
displeases silver-toned god-
” .it’s unsanitary!” shrieks Sam
(after taking blemished offering with disgusted grip)
as aphid tears open slimy bag, chirping;
“Sam is the man
(or an unreasonable facsimile thereof)”
II
Sam K, wife Ceil and dog, Cookie-
interchangeable and identical;
Sam/Ceil/Cookie, Cookie/Ceil/Sam,
hanging second-hand tea bags to dry
as silver-toned god roars approval
since Cookie bit my finger-
branding me as one handed aphid
demolishes oozing bag as
singing in harmony
“Sam is the man, Sam is the man”
with my raw wound as medal of valor,
crimson neon, until Sam demands
that my Dad hand over four cents
so that I’ll learn to pay
my debts to Sam/Ceil/Cookie monster
(I can’t tell them apart, don’t-you-know!)
handing filthy lucre to dying grip
for cupcakes, chips and soda,
cupcakes, chips and soda-
as I bite Cookie back! She yelps What toothmarks for show-and-tell,
my classmates are so impressed!
III
Sam in quiet lamentation as the last Jew
who passes through Holocaust again
as the old neighborhood
(no home here) slowly turns over-
Sam/Ceil/Cookie as driftwood
bobbing pointlessly on ever rejecting sea;
Never again? Once again!
Silver-toned god won’t follow to land
of eventual death-slow,
dripping Florida death;
Jim Dooley doesn’t want you-
Anita Bryant won’t have you;
the spics and porkchops take over
(no home here) as Sam packs up
used tea bags among prized treasure;
we cannot fight a system that hates us
as sweeper, reaper and spoiler
who won’t pass over
in lamentation of the last Jew
in exodus from what is not home
and never was!
Oi, Sam is the man .Never again?
Can you ever forgive me?
Epilogue
Thus concludes the shrill refrain
as chorus bellows;
“Sam is the man
(or an unreasonable facsimile thereof)”
on familiar stool sits aphid ghost
pursing salted lips
belching cupcakes, chips and soda cupcakes, chips and soda!
