Living is Easy with Eyes Closed
Landed at Newark, there she is,
3 inches taller since last summer,
be spared, I hope.
Ten days later, in Central Park, we explored all
843 acres, recite Strawberry Fields,
Living is Easy with Eyes Closed,
and on the Great Lawn, we play The Sound of Silence,
which is which, she asks,
the man with the curly hair and the shorter, smiling one,
we read Perfect Family, the play she wrote
for her drama class, it’s about conformity,
her teacher said, reminded her of Ionesco’s
Rhinoceros.
What language you guys speak,
a jogger asks. Hebrew, I answer.
Shalom, he says.
Spared, I think.
Then, on the last night,
she goes out to say goodbye to a man she befriended,
his choice, she says, to be homeless.
Stops at Zabar’s to get him a sandwich.
Father and son walk by.
Baby killer, the father yells,
and keeps on, plenty more.
Your dad, is he always like that, she asks.
The son nods. Quietly.
She cries when she comes home.
Not spared.
*
Nathaniel Gutman, a filmmaker, produced, directed and/or written over 30 theatrical/TV movies and documentaries internationally, including award-winning Children’s Island (BBC, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel), Deadline (with Christopher Walken), Linda (from the novella by John D. MacDonald; with Virginia Madsen).
Born in Israel, Nathaniel’s creative work often tries to come to grips with his bitter-sweet, overly sheltered German-speaking early childhood, of books, art and good (too good) manners, before being thrown, first in school, then, in the army, into the explosive reality outside.
Love.