Jacqueline Jules
First Jew
Really?
She asks, her neck rising,
like a shocked camel.
I’ve never met one before.
A Jew.
Meaning me.
As a child in southern Virginia,
I might as well have been
an animal native to the Middle East
something known, but not seen
in person, except in zoos.
Momma taught me to be cautious.
To never forget
I could be someone’s first Jew.
No kicking. Not ever, not
even if threatened.
Because oddities are always
judged by first impressions.
Jacqueline Jules is the author of three chapbooks, Field Trip to the Museum (Finishing Line Press, 2014), Stronger Than Cleopatra (ELJ Publications, 2014), and Itzhak Perlman’s Broken String (Evening Street Press, 2017), winner of the 2016 Helen Kay Chapbook Prize. Her poetry has appeared in The Broome Review, Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, Hospital Drive, and Imitation Fruit, among other periodicals. She is also the author of 40 books for young readers. Visit jacquelinejules.com.
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