Some Things I Can Still Do…by Robert M. Katzman
Some Things I Can Do
By Robert M. Katzman © Christmas Day, 2016Â
Roast chopped raw onions, pregnant with water, in olive oil at a high temperature, enhanced with garlic, black pepper, basil and five Asian spices until the edges char and people in other parts of my house inhale the enticing aroma of crunchy consumable sizzle.
Remember endless beatings with a range of hard objects, cruel words piercing my child’s young heart like arrows, public ridicule and being cursed as worthless, yet still recall her dark-eyed and curvaceous Mediterranean beauty, her universe of thousands of colors she urged me to learn, her otherworldly ability to anticipate and comprehend what other people were thinking before they said anything and her explaining how she did that to help me make my way in the world, her sensual poetry in Yiddish and after thirty years and long after her isolated and friendless death, forgive my doomed to madness mother her countless sins and finally, miss her.
Create a miniature split wood oak cave in my cavernous brick fireplace from my reservoir of hardwood, fill its vacant chamber with dry twigs and paper, ignite it, slowly add steadily and more twigs, let the infant fire grow stronger, then feed thin branches to the hungry little cavern now glowing with the husk of consumed twigs, then adding thicker branches to block every possible exit of the flames desire to escape and constantly trapping the heat’s ambition to rise, while watching as the indifferent hunks of oak finally reach burnable temperatures and then I back away, slowly, as my intricate design of items fallen from surrounding tall trees bursts into an inferno of raging hues of blues, reds, oranges and yellows leaping with sparks and abandon into a black night sky, greedily sucking in every gasp of air to feed its flight offering my dazzled old eyes a crackling, swirling extravaganza of light, heat and otherworldly beauty I unleashed from death with a single match.
 Listen to a weeping person in pain, realizing that while no words from my lips will necessarily matter, also understanding that an offer of silent reception of another’s misery is a partial cure in itself especially if accompanied with an offer of a hug, my enveloping arms strong enough to be felt, yet gentle enough to not seem a prison and held long enough to convince the other person through their tears that they are totally loved.
Publishing News!Â
Bob Katzman’s two new true Chicago books are now for sale, from him!
Vol. One: A Savage Heart  and Vol. Two: Fighting Words
Gritty, violent, friendship, classic American entrepreneurship love, death, heartbreak and the real dirt about surviving in a completely corrupt major city under the Chicago Machine. More history and about one man’s life than a person may imagine.
Please visit my new website:Â https://www.dontgoquietlypress.com
If a person doesn’t want to use PayPaI, I also have a PO Box & I ship anywhere in America.
Send me a money order with your return and contact info.
I will get your books to you within ten days.
Here’s complete information on how to buy my books:
Vol 1: A Savage Heart and Vol. 2: Fighting Words
My books weigh almost 2 pounds each, with about 525 pages each and there are a total together of 79 stories and story/poems.
Robert M. Katzman
Don’t Go Quietly Press
PO Box 44287
Racine, Wis. 53404-9998                                                           (262)752-3333, 8AM–7PM
Books cost $29.95 each, plus shipping
For: (1)$3.95; (2)$5.95; (3)$7.95; (4)$8.95 (5)$9.95;(6) $10.95
(7) $11.95; (8) $12.95; (9)$13.95 (10)$15.95 (15)$19.95
I am also for hire if anyone wants me to read my work and answer questions in the Chicago/Milwaukee area. Schools should call me for quantity discounts for 30 or more books. Also: businesses, bookstores, private organizations or churches and so on.
My Fighting Words Publishing Co. four original books, published between 2004 and 2007 are now out-of-print. I still have some left and will periodically offer them for sale on my new website.