Who knows what slurs 

he suffered there, swarthy first

generation son, what made him 

say his parents owned a factory? 

They ran a shoe repair. In Mom’s 

version, YiaYia spoiled him, 

Pappous beat him with a belt 

for being spoiled, hence 

the Disorder Al Sharpton, 

Armani-svelte, concurs with 

Rachel Maddow on. They shake 

their heads in pundit wonder. 

Until death Dad swore none 

of our kind worked at the mill. 

He said that was for Poles. 



Hilary Sideris has recently published poems in The American Journal of Poetry, Bellevue Literary Review, Free State Review, Gravel, The Lake, Main Street Rag, Rhino, Salamander, and Southern Poetry Review. She is the author of Most Likely to Die (Poets Wear Prada 2014), The Inclination to Make Waves (Big Wonderful 2016), Un Amore Veloce (Kelsay 2019) and The Silent B (Dos Madres 2019).