by Judith Terzi
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| Above: David Greenglass, with his sister, Ethel Rosenberg. (Image source: NY Times.) Known as "the spy that turned his family in," Greenglass died in July 2014. His death was only recently announced. |
For he was ninety-two and she dead
at thirty-seven five
shocks before sundown to put her
out at Sing Sing
No remorse from this man who
stole his sister's breath
to save his wife's his kids' Did he
ever imagine that currents
would flow through his own flesh
and blood smoke
rushing from his sister's head
like a geyser? Five jolts
before the Jewish sabbath began
For he was free before his fifteen years
were up For he was free
to change his name like Ethel's children
had to And all the while
Ike lounging in August fragrance
on a balcony of air under
the dome of a red umbrella its spokes
taut as the narrowing of mind
Judith Terzi is the author of Sharing Tabouli and Ghazal for a Chambermaid (Finishing Line). Recent poems have appeared or are forthcoming in BorderSenses, The Raintown Review, Times They Were A-Changing: Women Remember the 60s & 70s (She Writes), TRIVIA: Voices of Feminism, Wide Awake: The Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond (Beyond Baroque), and elsewhere. Her poems have been nominated for Best of the Net and Web.