BETTER THAN BEING ALONE

People say,

"I would rather be alone rather than married to him,"

as if being alone is bad

but at least not as bad as being with him

When being alone

means cooking Gallo Pinto

while taking belts (that's what my mother calls it)

from a Jack Daniel's bottle

That ain't bad

That's the best

The Shameful Stamp

• Imagine

if the anti-Irish sentiment

that waned mid century 

was as relentless and unremitting

as the anti-semitism that still permeates 

so many cultures of the world

we were donkeys fresh off the boat

both a description of our brawn

and a disparagement

micks, and paddies, and harps

bogtrotters if we did not have the privilege of education

in southern parts, hillbillies was a term that first applied to us

but now

we have St. Patrick's Day

and parades

where everyone is suddenly Irish

and begging a kiss

but they

have protests

with torches

and hate