My Aunt in America - Jesse Weiner

In 1946, my aunt from europe,
who was living in treblinka
when it was liberated by russian troops,
came to america, married a
bakery and cooked stuffed cabbage soup
with cheap fatty flanken which left
huge bubbles of strong flavored fat
floating, separating, joining.

when my aunt from europe got rich,
she used leaner meat,
ground sirloin to stuff the cabbage,
less rice and the soup wasn't as good as before,
sliced white bread rather than corn rye,
frozen dinners instead of pierogen.
when she fried she used fine olive oil
and mayonnaise in the chopped liver
instead of schmaltz,
and she was glad to forget the taste
of europe, the smoke of kishinev in 1903,
the smells of kielce in 1946 and
the ovens, always the ovens.

my aunt from europe learned to speak
without an accent, to dress like manhattan
instead of brooklyn, to shed each skin
after each finished season.
she told me- be an american, be
a human being instead of a jew.


Jesse WEINER
"My Aunt in America" first appeared in The Black Bear Review.

10x3 plus, #2 issue of poetry journal published and ready for distribution

Scott from On Track Communications delivered the magazine this past weekend and the mailers arrived today so I am ready to begin distribution. The journal looks so professional--On Track did a thorough job, as usual. Helene Lacelle's artwork printed crisp and clear, and the writing is varied, focused, great. First copies will be going out to the contributors (listed below), and then I will be filling orders and sending to libraries, other poets, creative writing programs, and organizations like Poet's House and the Wick Poetry Center. Anyone with suggestions on where to publicize and distribute the mag, please contact me. I also love hearing feedback--please make my ears burn.

More information is available at the web site: http://www.10x3plus.com/

If you have problems opening the web site, try googling 10x3 plus. Yes, it comes up now, or you can google Simar 10x3 plus.

Thanks to everyone who helped with this issue--especially the poets and the cover artist who were so generous with their work.

Love you all,

Sue Ann Simar