Rachele Poem by Alexandre Nodopaka

And she was
not infertile
like the biblical one.

She was from Léopoldville
Belgian Congo
I was from Casablanca
Morocco.

That was our first connection
at Boston University.

We both were immigrants
from countries in revolution.

I was twenty.
She was nineteen.
She was Jewish.
I was goy.

She didn't mind the extra skin.
Life was beautiful.
She returned to Léopoldville
and her father, a rabbi, kept her
forever.

I thought of jumping
from the Golden Gate Bridge
but I had acrophobia.