Shopping for Grandpa’s Gravestone

Richard Rosengarten

Palacci was finished the way you want it,
The salesman told us,
With the rough top and sides
In North American Pink.

Not like Levine—too modern.
And the black is dramatic,
Though the beauty of black is
You don’t need much design.

Most people do the grey
Like Kolker.

But you don’t want to settle for plain.
Finkel is plain. Volker is plain.
Years ago, there really were very few
Colors to choose from.

Abraham has what we call
“Frosted outline letters.”

And there’s the matter of size.
The Stein family stone is an impressive
Eight feet, Canadian Pink.
The Goldstein job is a foot less,
And look what a difference that makes.

Grandma said, “We have to
Beat out the Steins.”

But I knew what Grandpa wanted.
He often, drawing 
In equal measure from
His two inexhaustible wellsprings of 
depression and humor, said:

“I want to have an ATM installed
So my children will visit me.”

And I knew what I wanted. 
Soil from the Mount of Olives
To scatter over his coffin so that
When the dead rise, chances are
He’ll rise with them—

A tradition I don’t believe in 
And yet, drawing 
Unevenly from my own two
Limitless wells of faith
And doubt, ultimately did.