<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Naming the Children</div><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">He remembers <i class="">good night </i>and <i class="">good morning</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">He remembers my wife, Gail, <i class="">which is the wind,</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Who sits beside him, stroking his thin right hand.</div><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">From the back of the car through the neighborhoods</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">He recites the names of his children</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">In Russian, Hebrew and English. The names squeeze through</div><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">The damaged arteries, past the house in Odessa</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Over the remarkable ocean to New York.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class="">Mischa </i>will be Morris. <i class="">Hodya</i> will be Ida.</div><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Ten years later my mother, Beatrice Florence,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Stares into polished stone. At last</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">She sees herself, nee Bryna Fagel, <i class="">beautiful bird.</i></div><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Which is how it is in America,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Over the graves of our parents, how we are named.</div><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Steve Orlen</div></body></html>