Warsaw Souvenir Shop
by Barbara F. Lefcowitz

    Welcome, Madame. Please take your pick.
    __Will it be green Baltic amber or honey-yellow?
    Note the lively insects embedded in resin
    __of “traditional Polish hospitality.” Perhaps
    a lacquered peasant doll, porcelain angel,
    __originally handicrafted jewbox? Excuse me,
    Madame, my English suffers. A box
    __of best carved wood for all your jew-els?
    Ah, for just 50 zloty (credit cards welcome)
    __you can have your very own Hebrew star
    in every size and color, sprayed on wall
    __of your choosing, encircled by necklace
    of delicate swastikas. For small extra charge
    __we add slogan in matched color. And ticket
    for private tour of now-vanished Ghetto
    __where before war 400,000 Zyds lived so elegant,
    dining on gold, stolen diamonds, bread
    __made from blood of children. Madame, why
    you leaving so fast? We need your dollars
    __and our Zyds to return so once more Poland great.
    Madame, Madame--






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