Assimilation #1

by Pearl Solski

I love your non-Jewish body
I love your spine
Which bends over me
In a way that is
Especially non-Jewish
And your cock
With its exposed
unblessed skin
And your eyes
Which are the most goyish of all
Especially when they’re watching me
From in between my thighs

Thank you for inviting me to Christmas
I hope we all sit underneath a tree
And give out presents
I hear that it feels great
And I hope you put your goyish fingers
In my holiest of holies tonight
And tell me what a great writer I am
And what a terrible wife I’ll be

You blonde boy you shaigetz
Please tell me more about your
Family tree and how you’re
Related to John Adams
Even if it’s only through marriage
I love to laugh
when your throat
rushes over
the first syllable of challah
you home-wrecker you rascal
you can hold me close tonight
and we’ll whisper about globalization
and forgotten literatures
bitch about these neighborhoods changing
the store closing on your street
and the family moving out downstairs

When I come home
My father will shout me into the corner
And call me an anti-Semite
And my Bubby says I shouldn’t stay with you
But my mother tells me
She will never come to my wedding
And that’s reason enough to stay

here. We’re so not tznius
such a shande. My eyes roll
back when you’re near me
I weep. We’re in love
It’s embarrassing
so goyish to be this in love
to love so much
of you. Fuck me
while I’m still screaming
flesh.

My father called today
To remind me that marriage
Is like finding a good roommate
Someone reliable
Who can pay the bills
You’re not looking for a friend

Fuck me let’s be
Unhappy in our home
Where I like to come back to you
At the end of today
And Fuck me over this bed
Where the sheets are never white
And Fuck me on my period
‘cos neither one of us
will ever be pure enough

My Zaidy wants to know
When I’m getting married already
And my sister keeps calling
Telling me to find a shidduch
In the right time

And you called last night to say I love you
you non-Jew
you non-Jew
I love you my non-Jew
You shaigetz you home-
Wrecker will you raise little
Babies with me
can we give them Hebrew names
teach them how to spit out insults
Rock them to sleep with these Yiddish lullabies
My bubby taught me
I don’t want them to get lost
I don’t believe in souls
But I know they’ll have mine

Pearl Solski is a poet & student & staff writer for Rookie Magazine. She sometimes tweets @drosophilala.