Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Chicken Soup by Ed Galing






 Ed Galing sent me this poem shortly before he died in Dec. 2013:


most of all
i remember
my mother's
chicken soup.

1922
lower east side
i was often sick
my mother
fed me with
a large spoon.
"Eat, eat, you will feel better!"
that aroma
some secret ingredient
did its job.

my mother
overjoyed
nodding
my father smacking
his lips.

she said it was
a jewish dish
but the bible
did not say
this.

" Moses on the Mount,
had a bowl
before he got the
ten commandments."

the entire building
smelled of chicken soup
and matzoh balls 

At 96
i'm still not 
through
i sip the soup
and eat the matzoh balls
too.

 

2 comments:

Allan M. Heller said...

I remember Ed fondly. He read me his poems, and I listened intently. He even gave me some tips which led to a couple of my poems being published. I like to think that he would have wanted me to succeed him as Hatboro's poet laureate, which I did. RIP Ed.

Unknown said...

I wonder if Ed Galing knew that the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal published two of his poems in the spring of 2014.- honky tonk man, and Shadows. He was also in another issue.

Sincerely, Alice E. Rogoff