by Naomi Ruth Lowinsky
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Who will remember a girl’s crush
On Adlai Stevenson? The earnest precinct
Walks, the beloved silver lapel
Pin—a shoe with a hole in its sole—
Meaning eggheads are lovable—Remember Einstein’s
Mismatched socks? Who will remember
The violet glow of Oma’s eyes
Telling tales of Erich, the dying tiger
In the Berlin Zoo—his throaty greeting
Each time she came to paint him—before she knew
She was marked a Jew. Who will remember
How safe it seemed in America? The war was won
The streets were calm, a child could play
Cowboys and Indians all day until dusk
How green the lawns, how sweet the smell
Of honeysuckle, before the House Un-American
Committee, before billy clubs and dogs, before
Four little girls in church
Before Howl?
Who will remember her skinny
Little girl’s body, before breasts had their way
And nothing was safe anymore?
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Naomi is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Berkeley, CA and the poetry and fiction editor of Psychological Perspectives, which is published by the Los Angeles Jung Institute. She is the author of a memoir about her writing life, The Sister from Below: When the Muse Gets Her Way. Her third book of poems, Adagio & Lamentation, was recently published.