Different Slants

Copyright June 20, 2016

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 Jews 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 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 life

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?

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’s 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?”

 

 

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. 

Driving in the Dark: Lost in Israel (part 1) https://www.differentslants.com/?p=3736

Bob in Israel: A Crusader Castle; The Tunisian Museum (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

To contact the writer:

robertmkatzman@gmail.com

Another word from the author;

Bob Katzman, poet, writer (5 books in print), entrepreneur and technophobe is seeking smart representation as a speaker for hire and to record all my work. As a guy who took on America’s largest magazine distributor in a six-year battle, and beat ‘em, as well as Com Ed, AT&T and Amex after that, all while having cancer at 18 and brain surgery (twice) at 54, plus 34 other operations, I know I can inspire both young and old people who possibly have less to overcome in their pursuit of happiness.

I’m the only guy to write a book about running a chain of newsstands for 20 years despite all the corruption Chicago had to offer. When things got really bad, the Chicago Syndicate stepped in to help me out. Scary. I can be reached at robertmkatzman@gmail.com or 847.274.1474. Serious responses only, people.

For the really curious, go to www.DifferentSlants.com/?p=3024 and read:

The City is Littered With the Corpses of My Retail Life