We're moving again, to a GREAT house! I found this poem that Jeff wrote to me in high school, tucked away in a box. It's a variation of the book Portnoy's Complaint, by Philip Roth, and it still warms me to read...so sweet. And I am a complete pack rat.
Allow me to introduce myself
I'm Alexander Portnoy.
I'm every Jewish mother's dream
The proverbial "nice Jewish boy."
"Stay avay from dem shikses!"
Uncle Hymie used to say
As he gnashed on Grandma's creplach
In the old country way.
Mother and Father prefer I bring home
A "vitz" a "berg" or a "stein"
But my fancies have wandered of late
To a certain Joyce Balentine. ...(Jill Brooks) : )
Mother whines and rants and raves,
"A goy will never do!"
Father seems to understand
For he was once young, too.
What is in store for me in life?
What is my destiny?
Not a Catholic, not a Jew,
But this W-A-S-P.
It's hard to decide what I like best
Of this blue-eyed blushing rose;
Her pearly pink skin, her straight golden hair?
Or her flawless, bumpless nose?
Is she merely an image?
For she's just too good to be
Alas, with one marvelous touch
I feel reality.
And with her smile my heart burns bright
With an unquenchable fire
For this goy, this shikse girl,
My Blondie, my desire.
Jeff Grosfeld
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