Different Slants

Copyright June 20, 2016 * Rewritten August 28, 2020

Hanging on a thin necklace

Around my neck

It’s always there

A silver star

David’s Star

                                                                   *

I am never unaware of it

Neither is anyone else

Quiet and discrete

Weighing nothing

But heavy with

Thousands of years

Of a people

                                                                  *

The size of a dime

Beautifully carved

Like two interwoven triangles

The six-pointed Star

Never shouts

It murmurs

I am still here

                                                                    *

Wherever I am

I am conscious of

David’s Star

If I’m walking into

Friendship

If I’m walking into

Danger

I won’t remove it

                                                                    *

Sometimes I pull it aside

So only the thin chain

Is visible

So I won’t make the

German Jew’s fatal mistake

Assuming

That all the other Germans

Thought they were

Germans, too

                                                                    *

Then suddenly

Insanely

To eventually

Uncomprehending millions

Godless Nazis

Somehow packed

The Chosen People (?)

Into Cattle Cars

and then to the

Live or Die

Camp Selections

                                                                    *

Paranoia

is the

Imagined Assumption

of

Unimaginable Horror

                                                                   *

To be a Jew

To be me

Is bluntly knowing

Such horrors

Are not only

Possible

But recent

                                                                    *

In certain areas of

Seattle

Chicago

New York

Philadelphia

San Francisco

I unbutton some buttons

And let

David’s Star

Have some air

Take a breath

Be free

                                                                    *

But not most of the

Southwest

Southeast

Northwest

Northeast

                                                         My Star and I

Pass through Small Towns

Anonymously

                                                                  *

And traveling through

All of Europe

I have watched

Stranger’s eyes

At airports

Hotels

Car rentals

Universities

Look at my dark eyes

My dark skin

My dark beard

Feeling their wonder:

What is he?

                                                                   *

I have been thought

Throughout my 70 years

To be:

A Turk

An Arab

A Greek

An Italian

A Spaniard

An Armenian

Latin-American

But never a Jew

Not even in Israel

                                                                     *

People don’t know

Don’t like it that

They don’t know

And treat me

With uncertainty

Because people

Want to know:

Who are you?

                                                                     *

No, I am not crazy

I have been beaten

Senseless by strangers

By Chicago Cops

Not sure of what I was

But so what?

To too many with black hearts

What’s one more Jew

Or better, one less?

*

I am the classically

Cautious Jew

Better to be a

Curiosity

than a

Casualty

                                                               My Star

David’s Star

Always there

Just a button away

                                                                     *

Will I let you in?

How can I be sure?

How do I know whom to trust?

How do I know where is safe?

What will happen if I forget?

What are the consequences?

How many doors will shut?

How many faces will harden?

                                                                  *

We travel through time

Through our life

David’ Star and I

Many times wrapped

In a mystery

Of ethnicity

Sometimes unbuttoned

And very free

My Star catching the light

Shining

In other people’s eyes

When I trust them

                                                                     *

I am not a prisoner

Of Jewish history

But I know it

Only the living Jew knows it

David’s Star and I will be quiet

Quietly deciding

Always wary and deciding

Exactly:

Who…are you?”

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Below, 12 chapters from my new book, “Promises Kept: Mission to Masada”

Bob in Israel: A Crusader Castle & The Tunisian Synagogue (part 2) https://www.differentslants.com/?p=3748

Marsha Michael, Who Solved My Problems in Israel (part 4) https://www.differentslants.com/?p=3771

Tel Aviv, Israeli radio and Unexpected Art (part 5) https://www.differentslants.com/?p=3796

Vad Yashem: Killing Millions of Children (part 6) https://www.differentslants.com/?p=3811

Chicago man Watches Death of Samurais in Israel (part 7)//www.differentslants.com/?p=3846

Traveling Alone, Traveling Together (part 8) //www.differentslants.co/?p=3865

An American Jew’s Bold New Plan for a Sane, Peaceful and Prosperous State of Palestine (part 9) //www.differentslants.co/?p=3887

David’s Star in Israel (part 10) //www.differentslants.co/?p=3907

Sleeping With the Bedouins (part 11-a) https://www.differentslants.com/?p=3962

Pleading with Fate in Jerusalem (part 12) https://www.differentslants.com/?p=3980

Readers, your comments are welcome below. Writers want to be read and remembered. Please share the existence of my story/poetry site with others who might be interested. Thank you.

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