Who? (by Mitch Sisskind)

Sixth grade, a new kid came,
Fat kid, terrible at sports,
But a genius, played the violin,
And when we got math workbooks
On the first day of sixth grade
He finished the workbook that night,
Was supposed to take a year!

So smart was he that the teachers
Hated him, put the kid in front
Of the class and said, ‘Do you believe
In God or are you too smart to believe
In God?’ The kid said he didn’t know
At first but finally said he did believe
In God, because he had to.

Once at lunch he said the name
Jascha Heifetz and we all laughed
At the name and wanted him
To say it again but he wouldn’t
Say it because he didn’t like us
Laughing at the name Jascha Heifetz
That was like somebody sneezing.

Then one day at a movie theater
We were buying popcorn and there
Was a cardboard cutout of a guy
With a guitar and the kid said to me,
‘It’s Elvis Presley’ and I said, ‘Who?’
He said, ‘It’s Elvis Presley, he was on
‘The Ed Sullivan Show last Sunday.’

How strange, how unlikely it now
Seems, my introduction to Elvis Presley.
But we shared a destiny, the kid and I --
So years later, when I fell in love with
His wife, I was all shook up: my hands
Were shaky, my knees were weak,
I couldn’t stand on my own two feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Hilton Obenzinger]

Fell in love with his wife! Just slip that one in, and let it fly by.

[Trip]

There was a time in our lives when we were all, all shook up.