Description
- Kind: Perfectbound
- Pages: 110
- Language: English
- Date Published: November, 2020
- ISBN: 978-1-948017-94-7
Praise
‘In Wolinsky’s poems, the spirits of Mozart and Andrew Marvell converse in Elysium a haunted, beautiful book.’’ —NORMAN FINKELSTEIN
‘David Wolinsky’s poignant verse could have been written by the waters of Babylon. Perhaps, as we read we will help lift the rock from the heart of hope, even as we glimmpse its transcendence.’ —BONITA J. PORTIER, D.O.
Excerpt
Bronx Buddhism
I am attached
to the cat who is not attached.
See him there on the mat?
He knows how to sit; I do not.
If I look long and soft
into his green eyes, I might
disappear, or become otherwise wise.
It is clear:
Watching, being watched,
I will not be scratched
by that cat. I will keep
my vigil, and later his breathing
will measure my sleep.
I tried, I really did,
not to want him to stay,
not to watch too hard
as he crept away.
You already know it:
When this cat died,
I cradled my face and cried.
Author
David Almaleck Wolinsky has had a chequered non-career. Highlights include 6 years of middle-school teaching in the Park Heights ghetto of Baltimore, a novice at age 47. Grandpahood later. Lowlifes include 3 volumes of unpublished poetry.
The Almaleck in his name represents his mom, her parents, and their lineage from Al-Andalus, Muslim-ruled Spain. His Sephardic ancestors had to leave their homeland in 1492, at the completion of the Catholic reconquista. He also answers to grandpa, and sometimes Grandpa Whiteboy, participating when he can in the Poor Peoples Campaign, 350.org, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Levantate/Rise.
David, his wife, and his suegra Florinda, 106, live with two cats in central Maryland. They share a small patch of earth with the birds and the trees, rhizomes and other critters.
