Poetry Month, Lynn Melnick

 When Bad Things Happen to Good People
 ~Lynn Melnick

You can only hear you look like a hooker so many times
before you become one. Spandex was really big
 
the year I stopped believing.
I babysat for the rabbi’s son, Isaac. There was luxe carpet
 
in every room of the condo. Isaac liked Legos
and we made a pasture and a patriarch and lots of wives.
 
In his car in his garage the rabbi handed me a self-help book
and put my hand on his crotch, ready to go.
 
I didn’t care.
I made good money.
 
Isaac lived to be 180 according to the bible.
Isaac is the only patriarch who didn’t have concubines.
 
Isaac is 30 now. Modern scholarship tells us
 
the patriarchs never existed. Experience taught me
the patriarchs are all we’ve got.
 
 
Copyright © 2019 Lynn Melnick. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on July 8, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets.