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 Laurie
A. Gomulka Palazzolo's publishing credits include: Horn Man: The
Polish-American Musician in Twentieth-Century Detroit (Wayne
State University Press). She is Vice President & Executive
Director/Secretary of the West Side Detroit Polish American
Historical Society (
www.detroitpolonia.org ).
Iceberg Roses
The people sit on glass pews
in heavy coats of wool
and corduroy.
Outside roses sleep in snow.
Through the spaces I see
a limestone Christ, a desert
of ice.
Father talks about the Magi visiting
the Christ Child, flying across the ocean
to pay homage to his deceased father,
returning in three or four days.
I recall the eleven apostles and Jesus
standing frozen in bronze in the chapel
at Orchard Lake,
Our Lady of Czestochowa surrounded
by lit candles,
a purple and pink wreath encircled
by greenery hanging
to the left of her.
They were all draped in purple: the priests, altars and
lecterns.
The evergreens were bare.
He says that Wigilia is when miracles happen in Poland.
As he speaks I wonder what you look like in Advent,
wonder if you ever think of me in your sleep, wonder
what lives in the spaces
between the roses
while he speaks of
silent wonder
and as inside
they break.
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