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III. The shop in Detroit was piled high with store fixtures, So that Louie had only one corner of a bench, Where the mechanical guts of a cash register, Were organized in the order he dismantled them. Fortunately, Louie had a knack for repairing machines, Even enjoyed the long hours of cleaning and reassembly, For his father Max could be a tough son-of-a-gun with
slackers, Perhaps because two of Louie’s eleven brothers and sisters Had died during that trucking business attempt up in Bad
Axe, From Infant Diarrhea and Pneumonia, people said, But Max was never sure, And he would crack heads, if need be, to keep his family
alive. His wife, Bella, was much taller and stronger than Devorah, But raising twelve children through difficult times Had begun to sap Bella’s strength, so it seemed natural That Louie’s older brothers and sisters took on parental
duties, And he soon learned that if he wanted anything extra, He would have to earn it himself. When Dr. Louis Shiovitz graduated from medical school, He could reflect on the creative diligence that delivered
tuition, Such as typing up and selling lecture notes to his
classmates, Or taking jobs he could handle with his face in an anatomy
text. When he married Belleen, daughter of a scrap metal dealer, He thought Sam and Minnie Reichstein to be somewhat well
off, But not the reason two of Belleen’s brothers Later shortened their last name to “Rich.” Louis never questioned the importance of fighting for
freedom, And near the end of World War II, on his airbase hospital In Washington D.C., Belleen gave birth To the second of her four children, all boys, To this poet, who has not once risked his life for freedom, Who is left to wonder, along with 40 first cousins And hundreds who share the legacy of the name, What one man must have endured, In his passage from nowhere to nowhere, Keeping his religion, But sacrificing his secular identity To the more important name Of freedom. |
