Hal Sirowitz (1949-) is an American poet. He taught children with special needs in New York City before he started competing in poetry slams. In these competitions, poets recite their work and the audience or a panel of judges gives them scores from zero to ten.
BEFORE READING
No More Birthdays
Do you ever think your parents overreact to
No More Birthdays
something you say or do?
Mother said. There are all these glass jars
recite fremføre
Don’t swing the umbrella in the store, of spaghetti sauce above your head
audience publikum
that can fall on you, & you can die.
panel of judges dommerpanel
Then you won’t be able to go to tonight’s party,
jar krukke
or go to the bowling alley tomorrow.
anniversary årlig fejring marinara sauce tomatsauce
And instead of celebrating your birthday with soda & cake, we’ll have anniversaries of your death with tea & crackers. And your father and I won’t be able to eat spaghetti anymore, because the marinara sauce will remind us of you.
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