people wonder

yes
people do wonder
wonder how we live

newscasts and papers
and all the
international media

like to paint us
as if
we were wild primitives
messianic maniacs

as we while away our days
and nights
wily and dangerous

but truth
very different

this afternoon
for example
ok, not every afternoon
even every vacation afternoon
but true for today's

we sat
in a very
suburban living room
could have been
almost
any family and children oriented home

a few dozen of us
around a piano
listening to Gershwin, jazz, rag

from the neighborhood
but born in Hungary, New York,
a kibbutz, Lebanon,
Canada, New Zealand,
a moshav and Shiloh

and too many other places to list

now
the same sounds
dance out
of this computer's cd

and my feet
resume the dance
it did so silently
as Rami Bar-Niv played

then I was careful
not to disturb
but I couldn't stay still

klezmer with a kvetch
prayers schlepped
Gershwin called it
schvartze music

but it's really Jewish
what we think of as black

soul, neshama
as Jewish as could be

a wonderful afternoon
but not typical

just a special treat
so
if you're wondering
what we like

good music
culture
and the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises
which are here
and here only