If I Am Blessed with a Daughter

I never met my father’s mother.
Couldn’t remember her name until I learned
my older sister is her namesake

I found her picture once
Wedged between the Jewish World Atlas and a biography of
Moshe Dayan.
I asked my sister “Who’s the lady in the picture?”
She didn’t know.

This grandmother is always smiling in the story
In which my father brings my mother home to meet her.
I don’t know any other stories.

If I have a daughter, she will never meet my mother,
although she will certainly share her name.

What will she remember of this grandmother –
Of the lady in the photographs, already yellowed and cracking?

Will pizza and show tunes remind her of her?
Camping in rainstorms or blue canvas sneakers?

Will my daughter learn to miss my mother?
Will I ever learn to stop?

— Published in The Jewish Women’s Literary Annual, volume 4