Different Strokes - 7.15.25
I’ve always thought that the more variety in the way people think the better the chance for solving problems. I’m not talking about the Druze and the Syrians, or even the politicians (a plague on all their houses).
We are working on a 1000 piece puzzle. One person begins on the frame, another on the more visible parts that might connect, a third on any pieces that might pair up. It’s the way we think. I like to think in pieces after I have a frame.
now let’s apply this to my politics. My frame is mutual benefit in the middle east and maybe everywhere else. Two pieces at a time.
I don’t know what to think ~ half of the time ~ about matters in the Middle East. We don’t get the truth, most of the time, about the Gazan war. I believe any truth that I am lucky enough to see a glint of ~comes from your posts and poetry.
When I mention the other day (possibly on Facebook) that I did buy “survivors” and was
“enjoying it”, or something like that. I had only read a couple of poems, as my intention was to ‘savor’ the book…allowing for thinking/pondering in between poems and readings. OMG!
This book definitely needs a LOT of circulation, especially with so much present anti-semitism! The burning sadness and profound loss are beyond my ability to articulate with words. Your poems about all the family you could have had….My heart has not felt this kind of pain in a long time. Your Mother & I became quite close during those 2-3 years I lived in your Westminster home, talking together a lot! One year she even gave me a ‘christmas present’ after she found out I was not Jewish. It was a most beautiful and large scarf,
of an exquisite iridescent chiffon…scintillating hues of turquoise, purple and blue. We even used to occasionally go to shul together on Shabbos. We shopped at the kosher meat market on Joseph (?) Ave. and she taught me how to make chopped liver, etc. One time she somehow needed help dying her hair, and we did that together, too, in the back bathroom.
To read about her many sufferings during the holocaust and after are heartbreaking. It is difficult for me to put these pieces of the puzzle into my memories of her. Your poems pierce places in my heart and mind that I thought were sealed off forever, after my own, far lesser traumas have slowly healed. Your words, memories and thoughts about those who survived the unthinkable create a definite pause in my everyday thinking and imaginations. I will perhaps share them to a couple of people in a group of poets from this area, Scott Williams,professor emeritus from Buffalo University and Gene Grabner. They have a ‘poets society’ and many works from these people have been published.
Thank you for publishing this book on your own. It means alot to me…and must be shared.