MIKE'S
80TH BIRTHDAY
Elizabeth
Zelvin
we were eleven, he was my first crush
the best-looking boy in seventh grade
his father was a fireman
exotic in the eyes of Jewish kids
by twelve or
thirteen, all the girls were taller
we were budding
into women
all the boys
could think about was baseball
fifty years
later, when we all meet again
he confesses
he was bewildered by the girls’ advances
What do they
want? he asked his mom
grown up, Mike’s the quintessential family man
good at making money, been in therapy
deep as the Ohio River flowing past
his door
from his stoop he can see the Great American Ball
Park
beyond the river on the Cincinnati shore
the Reds are playing but he still hears Brooklyn
in the thwack of bat on ball
hitting homers high as dreams
he shuts out Kentucky every time he goes inside
turns on a symphony or opera very loud
he's got work to do, books to read, places to fly
a lot of people to keep happy
he does it well, as he does everything
when Big Mike turns 80, five birthday parties
can barely contain the festivities
so many people want to celebrate
now a great-grandpa, white-haired and portly
he leans on a cane, well-lubricated as he spins
his stories and gets a born raconteur's laughs
how cool is it to be 80 myself and sassy
no agonies of shyness, no regrets
Hey, Mike! I say, you were my very
first
crush, and
you're still adorable
Elizabeth Zelvin is the
author of two books of poetry, I Am the Daughter (1981) and Gifts and Secrets (1999), and recipient of a CAPS
award from the New York State Council on the Arts. During the Second Wave of
the women's movement, her work was widely published in such journals as 13th Moon, Heresies, and the anthology Sarah's Daughters Sing.
Recent poems have appeared in Yellow
Mama as well as in anthologies of work about COVID and in support of
Ukraine. Liz also writes short and long form fiction, including the Bruce
Kohler Mysteries and the Mendoza Family Saga.
Elizabeth
Zelvin, multiple Derringer & Agatha awards nominee
The Bruce Kohler Mysteries
The Mendoza Family Saga
http://elizabethzelvin.com