Unnatural
Bird Migrator, image by Michael Sgan-Cohen,
1985, screenpoint, 70x50
Y I N G L O S S I
A “A
C U T E P A I N ”
a
cute pain, usually appearing as oi vai
zmir [lit. woe is me] -- the stuff & nonsense air, so you say [lit.
know from what]. my crawling ache [slang, lit. wandering jew] & never
stopped to itch. but whom are you kidding? [lit. what’s the joke?] & whom
are you fooling? [lit. who are you fucking over (this time)?] when I eat my
anti-semites, i’ll chew them out myself! they’re jews like me. i’m hell on
earth to them, gaping as a pit [lit. where the devil sits to say his mourning
prayers]; get killed! they recite (in
communal prayer); drop dead! get lost! go
choke
yrself
. . . who knows? who
cd’ve believed? to be ruined as such [lit. inf(l)ected ]. how’s business? how’s
tricks? what’s yr name, huh? what’s yr mother’s name? how come? how much? (a
wild one) . . .you want? what else? what’s it matter (to me), huh? what’r you
talking my head off? watch out! [lit.
to throw one’s eye at] what a sober carries on his lung, a drunk struts- but what’s the difference? capable of
[lit. what’s on his tongue] & all in the cards, but what’s the trick? [lit.
what’s cooking?]: a “wound of balogna” [lit fried sausage-cheese-noodle] or vyzso [slavic, lit. fool] named for
Haman’s youngest son. **the jews vooz
[lit. boo] the dybbuk tongue away & when sleeping, later cut it out.
photographs of the tongue are posted on the study hall’s wall to mark the day
Y I N G L O S S I
A
“ S E C O N D B U R I A L ”
be happy! [lit. a shapely phrase] to be at pains to make sense amid non-sense [lit. in many tongues at once] -- excuse me? -- y’re all set! [lit. back on the horse & keep riding]
be happy! [lit. a shapely phrase] to be at pains to make sense amid non-sense [lit. in many tongues at once] -- excuse me? -- y’re all set! [lit. back on the horse & keep riding]
blessed
among an ashkenazi [lit. jewish-germanic accent] recalling the dead—a mama zelig punch, bang - pow ! [yiddishism, thru sexual taboo] in
sparing a miserly uncouth & fake [lit. slobbish] fate makes unruly whirring
[lit. can’t stop talking] & doesn’t shut its mouth.
the
sinner [lit. he who tempts fate] sweet talks atop a pile of pins & bristly
sticks
plotting
our sins in 7-day-mourning postures [lit. a sitting widow] patient as a shapely
phrase.
let
it burn & may god help [lit may god prevent] but i haven’t got the faintest
idea what. so onions grow from his navel -- so what? let it be. o.k.? that’s
it. let it be. if it (you) shd be so [lit. well said]. good luck & be
quiet. you shd live so [lit. in such silence]. you shd swell up like a mountain
[lit. lie in the earth]. **they place him in the ground. don’t worry, slob! dear
son. my darling daughter
—Ariel Resnikoff
