The Things She Said by Don Herzberg
In this wry memoir of his mother, Herzberg revisits a memorable childhood-- the trouble, the liveliness, and above all, the language of his mother commenting, often fiercely on their lives.
From "A Word"
If she didn’t want “Tsuris like this”
I wondered if there was tsuris
she wouldn’t mind – maybe
the cat’s claws ripping into
the frayed fabric of the easy chair
she never sat in any more or the rain
starting just when she was ready
to hang wrung-out laundry
on the clothesline out back.
These poems are funny, affectionate, and moving.
In this wry memoir of his mother, Herzberg revisits a memorable childhood-- the trouble, the liveliness, and above all, the language of his mother commenting, often fiercely on their lives.
From "A Word"
If she didn’t want “Tsuris like this”
I wondered if there was tsuris
she wouldn’t mind – maybe
the cat’s claws ripping into
the frayed fabric of the easy chair
she never sat in any more or the rain
starting just when she was ready
to hang wrung-out laundry
on the clothesline out back.
These poems are funny, affectionate, and moving.
In this wry memoir of his mother, Herzberg revisits a memorable childhood-- the trouble, the liveliness, and above all, the language of his mother commenting, often fiercely on their lives.
From "A Word"
If she didn’t want “Tsuris like this”
I wondered if there was tsuris
she wouldn’t mind – maybe
the cat’s claws ripping into
the frayed fabric of the easy chair
she never sat in any more or the rain
starting just when she was ready
to hang wrung-out laundry
on the clothesline out back.
These poems are funny, affectionate, and moving.