Old Woman, reminder,
String around my finger: make
Your bed, why don’t you. Cover
The towel that protects
Your sheet at night when cats
In heat howl, and all things
Let go but sleep.
Teeth, memento mori
In a yahrzeit glass,
Wait in murky water
‘til the time for garbled bulletins:
Rapes, bombings, murders, fire.
Every day is Yom Kippur.
Only the pain is accurate.
Listen: the cat
Wouldn’t jump in your plate
If you didn’t feed him hourly.
You’re killing him, you know.
Hardening of the arteries, diabetes,
Ulcers—all your Jewish diseases;
He can live without such favors.
Clean out the refrigerator.
The boiled potato
Flowers; the saucer
Of rice blossoms,
While on your window sill,
Plants die from
Too much water.
What good the warning?
Shoulders hunch under turned-up
Collars…even when they’re naked.
The years fall like stones.
Who can stave off morning
When flesh will reverse itself,
Fall away from the bones?
