“I don't exactly know what I mean by that, but I mean it.”―J.D. Salinger
Woman in the thrift store
this morning beautiful Asian
trying on a gold
sequined cap asked me what
I thought she said she wanted
to look like an atypical lawyer
you do I said
then she told me to ask her
a question. What would you
think about a poem that began
I could have married
a Palestinian a Sikh
a Buddhist from Bhutan.
Don’t write it she said.
Meanwhile, I have always loved Robert Irwin.
Thinking about coping and possibilities, there's a song by Russian-Israeli singer Rafi Persky called "A Million Dollars". The chorus goes:
I could have been a doctor of nuclear physics/
I could have studied a 5th year course in philosophy/
They suggested I open a big restaurant with marble tables/
They suggested I manage a local bank branch/
A million dollars! (It all rhymes in Hebrew).
Last Friday I went by the food fair, and heard one of the workers humming the song:
Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CEl52hb65g
Delight!