Le Cirque

Waiting for our food, circles

Of white tablecloths, rolled napkins, the building spiraling

Upward in circles, concentric circles, dizziness

Spiraling into the chandelier, the roof, the sky—

The tv above the bar shows a protest outside the UN

And, then, footage of an Israeli tennis player getting taunted.

They protest against Israel because they hate us—

The world will always hate Jews,

My grandmother tells me. Spiraling, undeniable

Logic of the survivor. All wrong.

My response? I will never be a victim—what the hell will it take

To make you understand? The bright lights

Invading my eyes, spinning with the round tables, round

Trays, the crystal glasses catching the lights, shining

Off the knives, the curls of my grandmother’s silver hair

Bending in the light, the light catching her light blue eyes, bright

With her memory of escaping Europe in the hull of a ship, only

To arrive in Africa, to huge Nazi flags hanging in the harbor.