A leaf, a page

At the next table at Grapefruit Moon sat three women.

One said, "I hate names that have 'Blatt' in them, like Silverblatt."

Another said, "It probably means something, like it's a Yiddish or Hebrew word."

The first said, "I just don't like that name."

Well, it went something like that.

My mother's name was Blatt. "Blatt" means "leaf" or "page."

Here's a poem I wrote about my grandfather. It's in my book Hey, Crumbling Balcony! Poems New & Selected. Over and out.


LOVE

Mr. Sam Blatt
sewed a coat
for the dog,

his foot on the pedal,
his teeth by the sink.
We played in his room.

Mr. Sam Blatt
stood in the kitchen,
slicing up cow's tongue

and clearing his throat.
Mr. Sam Blatt
lay back in his bed,

his mouth contorted,
a pen in his hand.
He wrote Hebrew letters

on brown paper towel
and then he was dead.