in memory of Primo Levi, an Auschwitz survivor

I’ll leave you nebbich poems like these

Made to be read by five or six readers.

—Primo Levi


I’ll leave a poem or two   some teeth for no-one’s

mouth   old books   newspapers and cufflinks

a broken bust of Beethoven   a silver wedding ring

fashioned   into honesty-leaves. I was true.

I’ll not leave a cellar   full of vintage wines   dusty

bottles   lying on their sides stocks and shares

and their dividends.   I strived for something more.

Not to be shouted over roof-tops   not to be crammed

into letter-boxes.   This poem make   to be read

by five or six readers.