Poems and Translations
Poetry of Sholeh Wolpé <Back To Poems Home Page
I Didn’t Ask For My Parents
It isn’t like you bend
your dainty spirit neck
down from God’s baby-soul-land
and point to a copulating couple
who strike your fancy.
Don’t think it works that way.
You are blind-folded
and shot down through heaven’s tunnel
into life and where you plop
willy-nilly that’s your home.
The Jewish couple may be in the act
at the same time as their Muslim neighbor.
Where you end up
even the cherub who pushed you off
the edge can’t know.
We grow up forgetting
our incidental placements
become fond of whatever
bread and religion we are fed.
Listen,
Who has salvation
when we all claim it?
— Sholeh Wolpé
From: The Scar Saloon (Red Hen Press)
Audio from The Scar Saloon --CD
