Milton P. Ehrlich


THE PAST IS NEVER DEAD

Every time I walked to school in 1938
I ‘d be confronted by teen-age Bundists,
members of the German-American Volksbund
who would grab me by the collar,
demand to know my name, and ask
if I was a Jew. I always replied: No,
I’m a Greek, and my name is Nicholos
Papadopolous!

That seemed to work until one day
they caught the name of Milton
on my notebook which sounded Jewy
enough for them to rip my pants off
and inspect me for a circumcision.
My school day ended with me tied to a tree
in Mt. Olivet Cemetery with the word JEW
etched on to my forehead with a smoldering cork.

Today, when I witness the police brutality
against people of color, it makes me wonder
if anything has changed—only that our cops
have become the new Nazis.




Milton P. Ehrlich is an 89-year-old psychologist, holds a Ph.D., and is a veteran of the Korean War. He has published poems in The Antigonish Review, London Grip, Arc Poetry Magazine, Descant Literary Magazine, Wisconsin Review, Red Wheelbarrow, Christian Science Monitor, and the New York Times.
 
 
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