Poetry Train Monday - 119 - Terribly Lucky

I'm currently reading Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer for the Dewey Reading Challenge.

The writing is so exceptional that I could craft found poems from every single page in this 382-page book.

Here is one little nugget.













Terribly Lucky


By her twelfth birthday
My great-great-great-great-great-grandmother
Had received at least one
Proposal of marriage
From every citizen in Trachimbrod

She forced a blush
Batted her long eyelashes
Said to each, Perhaps no
Yankel says I am still too young

They are so silly, turning back to Yankel

Wait until I pass, closing his book
Then
You can have your choice
Of them. But not while
I'm still alive

I would not have any
One of them
Kissing his forehead
They are not
For me
And besides, laughing
I already have
The most handsome man
In all of Trachimbrod

Who is it?
Pulling her onto his lap
I'll kill him

Flicking his nose
With her pinky
It's you, fool

Oh no
Are you telling me
I have to
Kill myself?

I suppose I am

Couldn't I be
A bit less handsome? If
It means sparing my life from
My own hand? Couldn't I
Be a bit ugly?

OK, laughing
I suppose your nose is
A bit crooked. And
On close examination
That smile of yours
Is a good bit less than
Handsome

Now you're killing me
laughing

Better than killing yourself

I suppose
That's right
This way I
Don't have to feel
Guilty
Afterward

I'm doing you
A great service

Thank you, then
Dear
How can I
Ever repay you?

You're dead
You can't do anything

I'll come back
For this one favor
Just
Name it

Well, I
Suppose I'd
Have to ask you
To kill me
Then
Spare me
The guilt

Consider it
Done

Aren't we
So terribly
Lucky
To have one another?

- Jonathan Safran Foer, 2002

For more poems, Ride the Poetry Train!

Stan Ski says The rest of us just die waiting for the perfect partner.

Jane Doe says I love how you take these books and turn them into poems.

Vita Stunder says Lovley :)