What It Was, What It Is

by Yoni Hammer-Kossoy

a gray PVC pipe
given to me
by a ConEd man
blue hard-hat
one summer day
he climbed out
of a hole in the
street was there
with a few others
laying cable he
winked he smiled
how’d you like
your own piece
of New York
City I was holding
my mother’s hand
walking to a bus
stop must have been
three or four
years old at most
it was a dinosaur
bone a race track
an ancient trumpet
my prized trophy
sat in the back
of my closet kept
me safe from nightmares
was a bad
telescope couldn’t
see things far
away like the moon
or the future got
lost during one
of many moves
but I’m sure could
work now maybe not
for seeing the future
but definitely the past

Originally born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Yoni Hammer-Kossoy has been living in Israel for the last 16 years with his wife and three kids. His work has recently appeared in The Harpoon Review, The Jewish Literary Journal, Stoneboat Journal and Bones Haiku. He also writes on Twitter as @whichofawind, where he experiments recreationally (but responsibly) with various short poetic forms.