Jakob, Victoria, Agnes
Photo Credit: James R. Horner
Certificate of Death
July 27, 1952
8 Hurley Street
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Coronary occlusion
Informant: Mary Sobel
Place of Birth: Poland
Discovery: 9 A. M.
Age of Decedent: 61
White
Housewife
Married
Agnes Kot
Ode to Agnes
1905 The Parting
On the pier in Gdansk,
you shiver,
all fourteen years of you,
crying, saying good-bye forever.
Your father and your brother
stand on shore
crying and forcing a smile.
Your mother,
Mary,
stays home and cooks,
as if for a funeral
of someone she knew.
Her chest heaves,
like a ship at sea,
Oh, hide your heart.
The Voyage
You get sick in steerage
and spew.
Gray Atlantic tosses your gray ship
like a giant cork.
Five days later
in New York Harbor, the crew
lets everyone on the deck.
“The Lady! The Lady!”
“Her lamp is lit for me!”
You cry again
because it’s true.
That terrible freedom!
Oh, strengthen your heart.
Christmas Eve, 1909
In Plains, Pennsylvania
Anthony Norczyk coos
over your 12-course dinner
as he woos you
with compliments
wearing his best and only suit.
The littlest one has seen
the first star tonight.
We can begin!
Break and pass on your Christmas wafer! 
Your Christmas Eve red borscht with raviolis, 
made by your little dumpling.
We pick the wild mushrooms together
for Forest Mushrooms Soup, 
My little dollop of cream!
Your Polish Fish soup 
the perfect fasting dish.
We only eat fried carp once a year. 
on this holy night.
May we have many!
Don’t fancy carp?
Try my delicate white fish fillet. 
Pierogi stuffed with cabbage
Try one!
we’re almost at the end.
Save a few
for the guest who will fill
our unoccupied chair.
I started my poppy seed cake
a month ago–
swallowed in seconds!
Fruit compote
dried pears, smoked plums, fresh apples
to speed our digestion
No wódka, Anthony!
This is Wigilia!
Christmas is only once a year,
And we’re not even close
to midnight Mass!
Oh, taste the work of my heart instead.
”The way to a man’s heart is
through his stomach.” Who knew?
We married right after Lent.
No fast day for us!
Oh, smell your wedding feast.
1919 The Death
First, there was Helen.
Joseph, next.
Mary, third.
Our fourth, Rose.
And our last, Anthony
after my dearest Anthony.
And then he got sick
And then he died.
The Spanish flu.
So many dirges
ringing day after day.
So many coughing, so many lives
How will I take care of my five?
Oh, hear your hollow heart.
1920 The Courting
The priest is coming to bless
Easter ham
butter carved like a lamb.
All day cleaning
Rags steaming
Floors gleaming
A house owned by the coal mine
but no grime,
shoes left outside.
Smell the pine!
You hear a violin
slowly approaching.
Jacob plays his fiddle
holding it on his chest
the better to sing along
with homeland tunes,
Polkas, mazurkas, obereks.
Dancers swing in couples
glide from side to side
stamp their feet
cry out Poland’s tunes.
Jacob sings to you, Agnes.
Your mason sings to you,
cementing his little castle of love.
Oh, open your lonely heart.
1921 The Wedding
You walk to the little church
alone
no father to give you away.
Jakob Kot is waiting.
As you walk in,
lifting your dress over the marble doorstep,
Helen, Joseph, Mary, Rose, and Anthony
swivel their heads
greet their new papa
and hope for the best.
Never out of tunes.
Never out of work.
Always pays his tithe.
Jakob makes you laugh.
Oh, feel your bouncing heart.
1922. The Last Little Ones
They came…
Victoria
John
last children of Agnes and Jacob
Still no electricity
kerosene lamps
Victoria strained her eyes
diligently reading
completing her homework.
Jakob got her glasses.
Oh, see her beautiful handwriting.
The Graduation
Years flew by.
Big ones moved out
worked in the mines
married the miners.
Victoria graduated
first high school graduate in her family
first in her class.
Jakob and Agnes,
you wore your best and only suit
your best Easter dress
you sat in the front row
so proud of your valedictorian
going to College Misericordia.
Your house is empty, Agnes.
Who will fill your heart?
and Victoria’s?
Oh, your head is dizzy with heaving waves of loss.