1. She never left home
without her
mini salt shaker—
—the world she saw lacked spice.
 
2. She had a beauty mark on
her left knee.
She was convinced that if she pressed
this spot for one
whole hour,
her knee cap would rise and discover
that
it was a small golden bowl
filed with blue and red gemstones.
She was the deputy manager
of a brush factory but never
managed a single
free hour.  Ten blue stones,
                    four red stones.
 
3. Every day she
bought three rolls.
One for the morning, one for the evening,
and the third would slip away
on the way home.
Just to remind her that
for every couple
carried to a safe place
there’s one that slips away, wallows in dust, forgotten.
Oh orphan roll!
 
4. Every day she brought
three lemons.
One for salad,
one for tea,
and she threw the third one at the window.
How she loved seeing that juicy ball
against the Mediterranean sky.
Oh heavenly lemon!
 
5. One evening she went to Aberdeen
with a suitcase full of handkerchiefs.
It’s hot in Aberdeen, they said
There’s a flu epidemic in Aberdeen, they said
this, they said, and the opposite
but no one told her that Aberdeen
had changed direction.
 
6. A soft-bristled brush sailed
over the Yarkon, sailed over
the Yarkon.
 
7. The deputy manager loved her husband and children
but she had no children no
husband.