I B Singer Poem by Percy Dovetonsils

I B Singer
left his name
and number
in the NY phone book
long after he became famous
so his female fans, visitors to the city,
could find him.

And old as he was
and married as he was
he wasn't above
getting it on
with some of them.

Some readers claim
he was doing research
and collecting more stories,
sexy stories,
stories set
in America,
but only about
the people and places
he knew

- -Jews, immigrants,
holocaust survivors,
in New York and Miami.

There he was on firm ground,
just as he was on firm ground
with the destroyed world
of Polish Jewry
and their demons
and angels.

That's right,
he stood on firm ground
on a planet
which was
no more,
except
in the memories
of aging survivors.

And the America
he lived in
as a visitor, a guest,
was mostly
another planet,
a waiting room,
where he could
find shaky footing
for his stories
and himself
before he passed on
to the
real world.