Phil Kaye - Teeth

is what i call my japanese grandfather in 1945 his tokyo home was burned to the ground grampy is what i call my american grandfather in 1945 he was serving on the uss shangri-la sending off american planes to burn down japanese houses our jaws have not yet healed 1906 poland grampy's father is hiding in an oven he doesn't know the irony of that yet he has heard men singing on the streets below hyenas my family calls them after celebration drinks and song the outside townspeople come into the jewish ghetto for a celebration beating molar fireworks and eyelid explosions even when grampy's father grows up the sound of sudden song breaks his body into a sweat fear of joy is the darkest of captivities 1975 tokyo my father a long-haired student with a penchant for sexual innuendo meets reiko hori a well-dressed banker who forgets the choruses to her favorite songs 12 years later they give birth to a lanky light bulb 1999 my mother speaks to me in japanese most days i don't have the strength to ask her to translate the big words we burn that house down mother don't you remember 1771 prague in the heart of the city as a jewish cemetery the only plot of land where grampy's ancestors were allowed to be buried when they ran out of room they had no choice but to stack dead bodies one on top of another now there are hills made from graves piled 12 deep individual tombstones jutting out crooked like valiant teeth emerging from a jaw left to rot 1985 my parents wedding the two families sit together smiling wider than they need to montague must be so happy we can capulet this all go 1999 i sit with grampy's cousin 91 years old and dressed in full military uniform he says hate is a strong word but it is the only strength that i have left how am i to forgive the men that severed the trunk of my family tree and used its timber to warm the faces of their own children 2010 grampy and i sit together watching his favorite baseball grampy sits in his wheelchair teeth gasping out of his gums like valiant tombstones emerging from a cemetery left to rod the teeth sit staring and i can read them louis bergman killed auschwitz sarah lease killed attack how william kane killed off the coast of okinawa i will never forget what has happened to our family grampy and he looks at me with the surprised innocence of a child struck for the first time philip forgetting is the only gift i wish to give you i have given away my only son trying to bury my hate in a cemetery that is already overflowing there are nights i am kept awake by the birthday songs of children i chose not to let live they all look like you the plague on both your houses they have made worms meat of me [Music] [Applause]

Channel: Button Poetry

Views: 30,223

Keywords: Slam Poetry, Button Poetry, poetry slam, performance poetry, spoken word, poetry, poets, poems

Id: _YN8m8GZSRA

Length: 4min 29sec (269 seconds)

Published: Tue May 17 2022