Family Ties

That table with  legs that look like paws
belonged to my grandmother Cecilia,
my father’s mother who loved purple
and combed her hair with a tortoise comb
My grandmother Yette saved twine—
wrapping it into a ball the size of a melon
She drank tea in a glass and taught me
how to deal cards and play Pisha Pasha
My grandfather David  painted apartment
walls and once served in the Tsar’s army
My grandfather Abe owned a parrot
who  mimicked  my mother’s name
My mother copied dress patterns on brown paper
 spread out on our kitchen table
My father read history books and stories
about the Wild West and Butch Cassidy
My Aunt Rose smoked unfiltered cigarettes
and knew how to blow smoke rings
My Uncle Abe built a log cabin
and taught his sons spelunking
My cousin Bobby married  a man
who fell in love with her best friend
My cousin Cynthia’s car was hit by a truck
catapulting her one year old onto the highway
My cousin Melvin and I painted his car
with fantastical animals and graffiti
We lost our full family name on Ellis Island
when some letters were lost in translation