GENETIC MATERIAL

Genetic Material


Before he died
my Father told me
Cousin Alice was carried around in a wheelbarrow
she was so big, when she was old

He told me Aunties had lumps in their upper backs,
German/Polish/Jewish/Hungarian noses with knobs protruding,  
warts with hairs in their faces
when they were old

My dead Father, Cousin Alice and the Aunties
had a way with me this way
in holding me inside
when all is revealed

when I seek still
the hairy woman underneath the waters
when I see signs on foreheads
in new babies born

In the mold of elders
I am the proud descendant of fat humpbacks
big noses, warts

in song

Material genético

Antes de morrer
meu Pai me contou
que êle levava a Prima Alice num carrinho de mão
de velha,
de tão gorda que ela era



Me disse que as Tias tinham calombos na nuca
alemãs, polacas, judias, húngaras
de narizes avunculares
verrugas cabeludas ancilares
na cara delas

Meu Pai morto,
Prima Alice e as Tias
tinham um jeito comigo
de me aquietar por dentro
quando tudo então se revelava

Quando ainda busco a mulher barbada
debaixo das águas dos rios
quando enxergo símbolos
na testa dos bebês recem nascidos

Sou,
na moldura anciã
descendente orgulhosa das baleias
nariguda, verrugosa

em canção.





Erica Weick
June 2, 2007, revisited 2013, 2014 and 2017