Carly

Carly is my niece
My great, great niece
To be precise
She is in the third grade
And she said that she really likes her teacher this year
For Christmas, I bought her
A fire engine red sweater
Two sizes too big
As it turned out
Much to my embarrassment
And chagrin
But much to her delight
For fire engine red is her color you see
Carly’s mother Claire called me
And put Carly on the phone
Claire is named for my mother Clara
Carly said that she wanted
To thank me for her gift
And to wish me a Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year
And the same to you honey I said
Thank you so much for calling me
It means so very much to me
To hear your voice and to hear you smile
That smile means everything to me you know
After such a long period of silence
Not since last Easter
Instantly our bonds were renewed
As our familial blood ties
Reasserted themselves
Blood is thicker than water they say
And they are right to say it
Today I purchased a lottery ticket
Hoping to hit the mega millions jackpot
A million to one shot to be sure
But that one phone call from Carly
Was worth a king’s ransom in gold
Can’t hardly wait to see you again Uncle Jack
She said handing the phone back to her mother
Me too I said and I really meant it
And I am pretty sure she did too
And that was good enough for me.

Jack H. Markowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2010

Food, Clothing and Shelter

Food, clothing and shelter
That’s all that’s needed to sustain life
Or so we are told and taught
As soon as we are deemed capable
Of absorbing other people’s ideas
In what is laughingly called
Free public school education

Food, clothing and shelter
That’s all that is needed to sustain life
Not love, not mercy, not joy, not sorrow,
Not war, not peace, not justice,
not poetry, nor romance,
nor dog, nor wife
Just food, clothing and shelter

Provide a man with food, clothing and shelter
And he’ll get up every morning and go to work,
He’ll marry and reproduce
He’ll buy property and expand the economy
He’ll soon want to drive a car
And take a vacation
And pursue higher education
And earn advanced degrees and awards
And excel at sports and hobbies of every kind

And then he’ll grow old
And begin to wither
And along the way
He’ll bury a few relatives
Though hopefully not his own children
Though he may see a child or two
Marching off to some god awful war
To some forlorn corner of the planet
Perhaps never to return

And he’ll learn to hurl accolades
At his leaders, whether elected or not,
Whether deserving or not,
And he’ll go to the movies to kill time
And maybe even write a book or two
In his spare time or when he cannot sleep any more

Or when he can no longer bear sleeping alone
And then he will begin to see in the mirror
The face of old age
Creeping up on him,
Incrementally robbing him of his strength,
His cunning, his hair and teeth
His muscle, his health,
his stamina, and finally,
The greatest theft of all,
robbing him finally of even his ability to breathe

At which point, food, clothing and shelter
Will no longer be needed
The flame of the candle
having burned itself out
The wick having turned cold and sooty to the touch
Never having needed so little to sustain it
Yet always wanting and always needing
So much.


Jack H. Markowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2010

Last Night I Said Kaddish

Last night I said Kaddish for my father
Ohev v’ Shalom
On the Yarzheit anniversary of his death
But who will say Kaddish for me?

I was but ten months old
When my father died
A man whose face I do not remember
Nor his touch, nor his voice

Save for the one and only surviving photograph
That sits atop my RCA tv
Along with other assorted bric- a –bracs
I would have had no conception of his image

I was a going away present
A last gift for my mother from dad
A change of life baby
Or the tumor baby as I was called

The last thing that mother needed
Another clamoring mouth to feed
Always sickly, always neglected
Who will say Kaddish for me?

Now grown to manhood
Both parents reposing in their graves
So much history already forgotten
So who will say Kaddish for me?

Philadelphia, 2010

Homage to John Lennon

It was thirty years ago today
John Lennon’s death taught us all to pray

Though his career was going in and out of style
we always thought we’d have him ‘round for yet a while

But Mark David Chapman had set a trap
He had a gun was eager to take the rap
He never was able to just enjoy the show
He had his gun and he wanted to make it glow

And now he’s rotting in an upstate prison cell
Though we all wanted him to rot in hell
But he was set on murder and wanted to kill
He was certain it would be a thrill

To see John’s blood bright red in the snow
Mostly because he had no other place to go
Filled with envy and self hate
Sick and tired at being second rate
He would kill that which once he professed to love
Sure that fame would fall from above

He said he didn’t really want to stop the show
but killing John was all that he did know
So he aimed his gun and pulled the trigger
And John fell with a shiver

That cold grey afternoon in December
The one we will always remember
Seeing John’s blood spilled in the snow
Because he had no other place to go

As he made his way to the Dakota
He stopped to buy himself a soda
He just wanted to be a dad
Like the father that he never had

Never thinking that day would be his last day on earth
Had he known, what would that have been worth?

And now John’s killer wants to sing a song
and he wants us all to sing along
So let me introduce to you
the one and only Billy Shears
And Mark David Chapman’s
Lonely Hearts Club Band


Jack h. Markowitz
Philadelphia
December 8. 2010

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving 2010.

I wish, I wish, I wish I was a wishing well. On Thanksgiving morning I was wishing that I could find more motivation to get something done. The amazing thing is that I was able to muster enough enthusiasm to get anything accomplished whatsoever. Even brushing my teeth was an accomplishment. I was just not feeling the holiday spirit, as they say.

Nor was I in the mood or frame of mind to be driving all the way to Metuchen, New Jersey where my family usually reunites for the traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. The drive takes about two hours down the New Jersey Turnpike from Philadelphia to Exit 11. New Jerseyans all identify each other by what exit they must take off the Turnpike to get home. I knew that giving in to the urge to call and cancel out was a sorry thing to do no matter how good the excuse. Blame it on the weather or blame it on the Bosa Nova. In the end I knew that I would be throwing on some holiday appropriate clothes. I knew that I would be getting the car and heading for the Turnpike despite my misgivings and the nasty weather mostly because of the tradition of it all. Say what you will old traditions definitely do die hard.

The weather was seasonal, blustery with some snow, hail and rain in the forecast for the rest of the day. Truth be told, this kind of blustery weather was actually my favorite kind of weather for sleeping in with a good book and the newspaper. My two cats were way ahead of me, already curled up for a nice long afternoon’s snooze. The roads were soaked and dangerous with fall leaves everywhere making the going even more slippery. To go or not to go? How inviting the old, soft couch in my living room seemed. I would have loved to just take a short nap, to calm myself down. Short naps, however, can be dangerous. I know that short naps can turn into long naps, especially with football games playing on the tube. It is so easy to find a hundred excuses not to do something that you really do not want to be doing in the first place.

My daughter lives in Charlotte, NC. My brother and his family live in West Palm Beach, Fla. And my sister and her family live in Delray Beach, Fla. Another niece lives in San Ramon, Ca. and her sister and family live in Wash. DC. Only my New Jersey nieces live close enough for a holiday get together. With a family that is so scattered to the winds it is hard to make family get togethers work in a way that accommodates everyone’s needs and schedules.

So in the end, despite all of our misgivings and procrastinating, we usually end up doing the most expeditious thing in most cases. After all no one really wants to be left alone on Thanksgiving, do they? And I do hate disappointing people, letting them down, especially when they are counting on me to do something for them. I’ve already done way too much of that sort of thing in the course of my life. And I do not like it when the tables are turned and I am counting on someone to do me a favor and they let me down. So it works both ways. I let you down, you let me down, we let each other down –where does it all end? Better to break the cycle and just do the things that we commit ourselves to do in the first place. And in that vein, let me take this opportunity to wish all of my friends and relatives a very happy and safe Thanksgiving, 2010.

The More Things Change

The French, bless their little hearts, have a famous expression that goes like this - "Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose!" Translation- The more things change, the more they stay the same! And they are correct of course. I am thinking today about the upcoming US mid term elections which are only a few days away. I do plan to vote though I am less than enthusiastic about my choices. I will hold my nose and vote the big D for democrat party candidates.

The mass media folks have been saying for weeks (over and over again ad nauseum) that the Republicans can expect to claim enough seats to take over control of both the Senate and the House. I cannot believe that such will come to pass. I have even put my money ($5.00) to the test. I bet a man in my gym class that after all the smoke settles that the dems will still be in control of both houses of Congress. Some of my friends have since told me that I will most probably lose this bet.

Maybe so. But I just cannot bring myself to believe that the good folks of America will abandon President Obama after only two years in office at the time of his greatest need for their support. Not to mention that they would just be shooting themselves in the foot, cutting off their collective noses to spite themselves. Why in the name of all that is holy would they vote to put the G.O.P. back into power?

Why would they give the keys of power back to the very same people who all but destroyed the American economy in the crash of 2008? President Obama and his capable inner circle brain trust basically pulled a rabbit out of a hat in their efforts to save and shore up the few jobs that were still available while managing to save the financial system from a complete and total global financial colllapse. Not a bad record for only two years in office. And let us not forget that President Obama was able to end combat operations in Iraq after eight years of futility.

This in addition to Obamacare, the most important overhaul of the US healthcare system in fifty years. (The G.O.P has sworn to repeal Obamacare in the next congress if they manage to gain a majority of the seats). This must not be allowed to happen. We here in the USA agree that majority rules. That is the essence of Democracy is it not? On the other hand no party has a monopoly on stupidity.

We all say that we all want what is best for America. I only wish this were true. Something that should be beneath all good and true and loyal Americans is to wish an incumbent President to fail in the performance of his job. Rush Limbaugh has openly said that he prays every night for President Obama to fail. In my book that smacks a lot of treason. Yes, it is treasonous to wish your own President to fail.

I say if all of the so-called Red states want to fail, I say let them! If they want to withdraw from these United States and form their own country again I say let them (and good riddance to them!) We have come too far and have suffered too much as a people to ever willingly turn the clock back to the early 1950s. There, I have said my piece.

Now don't forget to vote this Nov. 2. I hope we will have cause to celebrate a renewed victory for President Obama and the American people! And may it be so speedily and in our time, Amen.

A Perfect Day At The Beach

A perfect day at the beach
The sky, a deep pastel shade of blue
The ocean, deep green and full of salt
The beach, alabaster white for as far as the eye can see
The wind, gentle and caressing
The seagulls, calling and mocking, always on the hunt for fish

And all I needed to make it
A more perfect day
Was a big, beautiful kite to fly.

And you can be sure
That the next time
I come back to the Jersey shore
To my big, beautiful Jersey shore

I will be sure
To have a big, beautiful kite to fly
And that’s for sure.

jack h. markowitz
10/08/10