Jacqueline Jules
“Jew Down” As a Verb
I thought it was a verb,
not an insult, she says.
A phrase she’s heard
a hundred times or more.
She didn’t know, she says.
Should I blink or believe?
For me, those words hold history,
enough to fill a library with books
I can recite by heart.
While for her, they were a footnote
she happened to miss.
Should I pick up my phone
and shame her? Spread her mistake
like jelly on toast, soaking every corner
until she is far too sticky to touch.
Or offer my hand and a place
at my table; the words to share bread
without smearing each other.
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 Helen Kay Chapbook Prize. Her poetry has appeared in The Broome Review, Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, Hospital Drive, and Imitation Fruit, among other journals. She is also the author of 40 books for young readers. Online at jacquelinejules.com.
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