Nineyears after a brother;
A blip on the ultrasound screen
I am from Lox andbagels on Sunday morning
A fortune found only in a cookie after a bowl ofWonton soup.
My grandfather's taste buds, chocolate-covered cherries andcheap candy corn.
Not me,
Those Toulouse-Lautrec limbs of mygrandmother
No I, with long fawn-like legs
And tightly wound ringletsgarnished with gems and jewels
from J.C. Penney and Montgomery Ward,
I amfrom my brother's Rachmaninoff and from my Raffi,
Balding Barbies, sexlessKens, and Sesame Street.
Three little pigs; I only have one.
Canine,feline, and rodents inhabit my space.

Hardly a shy moment; no reticence onmy part.
I am the big screen TV, a Blockbuster kid,
Woolworths' windows,cherry Cokes, and French fries fill my days.
I am from Passover, passports,and passing by,
I travel beyond my dreams,
I follow a trail others cannotsee,
I hear a whisper, which leads me on.

Sharp as the smell ofAmmonia,
Slick as a wet marble floor,
I skid across the years
Gatheringspeed as I hurtle toward the present.