Christmas defeated Chanukah
once again last night
by a margin of three billion dollars
or so, but every time I hear
a Yiddish word like bupkes
in a movie (L.A. Confidential)
or when Oleg Cassini in that new play Jackie
calls a garment a shmatta, it’s “good
for the Jews,” as our parents used to say.
Meanwhile some things have
stayed the same; the drunken lout
in the street is still somebody’s father.
Hey, kid, how does it feel to have a pop
that’s a flop? And we had such good ideas
for changing the mental universe, if only
as a project in philosophy class, the one
I still dream about failing when I have
that dream everybody has, of being back
in college and needing this one course
to graduate, which I forgot to attend
(David Lehman)
More Poetry from David Lehman:
David Lehman Poems based on Topics: Education, Movies, Philosophy, Christianity, College, Fathers, Christmas- December 7 (David Lehman Poems)
- Tenth Commandment (David Lehman Poems)
- The Shield Of A Greeting (David Lehman Poems)
- January 24 (David Lehman Poems)
- To Psyche (David Lehman Poems)
- With Tenure (David Lehman Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Christianity Poems, Education Poems, Fathers Poems, Christmas Poems, Movies Poems, Philosophy Poems, College PoemsBased on Keywords: defeated, graduate, billion, lout, flop, yiddish, confidential, jackie, oleg, cassini, chanukah