{"product_id":"mother-said-poems","title":"Mother Said: Poems","description":"\u003cp\u003eBefore her death in December of 1993, Estelle Sirowitz ladled out the usual maternal advice--from wearing clean underwear (without holes), to believing in God, and keeping limbs inside windows of moving vehicles.  The difference lay not in her delivery but in the recipient: her son Hal.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNearly fourteen years ago Sirowitz began turning his mother's advice into poetry--never showing her exactly what came of her ranting and raving about a ketchup jar:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDeformed Finger\u003cbr\u003eDon't stick your finger in the ketchup bottle,\u003cbr\u003eMother said. It might get stuck, \u0026amp;\u003cbr\u003ethen you'll have to wait for your father\u003cbr\u003eto get home to pull it out. He\u003cbr\u003ewon't be happy to find a dirty fingernail\u003cbr\u003esquirming in the ketchup that he's going to use\u003cbr\u003eon his hamburger.  He'll yank it out so hard\u003cbr\u003ethat for the rest of your life you won't\u003cbr\u003ebe able to wear a ring on that finger.\u003cbr\u003eAnd if you ever get a girlfriend, \u0026amp;\u003cbr\u003eyou hold hands, she's bound to ask you\u003cbr\u003ewhy one of your fingers is deformed,\u003cbr\u003e\u0026amp; you'll be obligated to tell her how\u003cbr\u003eyou didn't listen to your mother, \u0026amp;\u003cbr\u003einsisted on playing with the ketchup bottle,\u003cbr\u003e\u0026amp; she'll get to thinking, he probably won't\u003cbr\u003elisten to me either, \u0026amp; she'll push your hand away.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSince then Sirowitz has become a regular in New York City's downtown poetry scene, was awarded a residency at the MacDowell artists colony,  performed live on MTV's \"The Spoken Word: Unplugged,\" appeared on Public Television's \"United States of Poetry\" series, and received a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts to continue writing about his mother.  No one, not even Estelle Sirowitz, could have predicted the incredible  allure and success of his dead-pan delivery and dead-on depictions of a mother's words of doom:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003efrom A Bum's Life\u003cbr\u003eYou're going to be a bum, Mother said,\u003cbr\u003eif you're not one already, but you'll\u003cbr\u003esoon find out that even a bum\u003cbr\u003ehas to work hard convincing people\u003cbr\u003ethat he's really poor. When it rains\u003cbr\u003eyou can't stand out there holding\u003cbr\u003ean umbrella, \u0026amp; ask for money, but\u003cbr\u003eyou have to get wet, because the more\u003cbr\u003eyou drip, the more sympathy you'll get....\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike nursery rhymes for adults, the poems included in Mother Said are addictive.  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRead them once and you'll have to read them twice.  Hear Sirowitz read them, and you'll find yourself reciting them to your friends--mimicking as best you can his Queens accent and his dry delivery.   Who knows, you may even find yourself reciting them to your own mother.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Roots Bookstore \u0026 Market","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51243376836775,"sku":"9780517704974","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/8312\/8231\/files\/9780517704974.jpg?v=1787327987","url":"https:\/\/rootsbookstore.com\/products\/mother-said-poems","provider":"Roots Bookstore \u0026 Market","version":"1.0","type":"link"}