qarrtsiluni

by Maurice Eidelsberg

One Sunday, if the kids are bored and your wife
Thinks you are washed up
Why don’t you do something novel, entertaining and educational
Bring them down to observe my species
At the local handicapped zoo and freak of nature reserve
There you can find me in the rare North Americans spastics
Right near the aquatic Mongoloid retards
I’ll probably be sleeping or drooling
Dressed in my native 65 poly 35 cotton sweat-suit-skin
Point out to your kids that my crooked perma-smile
Doesn’t represent happiness but rather just
Another symptom of neural firings gone wrong
Explain to them that my breed thrives in captivity
And can not easily exist among the upright ambulatory
Who consider themselves a more evolved breed
Then ever so carefully instruct junior to stick his hand
Through the bars of the cage and not to be afraid
We crave the human touch

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Maurice Eidelsberg (blog, YouTube channel) had many poems published in the now defunct Quarterly, and more recently has appeared in The Cortland Review. He attended the writing program at Sarah Lawrence and almost received an MFA. He lives in Jerusalem, where he is watching the slow death of his mother. He is beautifully afflicted with a severe case of palsy. He is single and available.