It does read better in Yiddish.
The Yiddish jokes go better--
they work better here in Arizona.
I made a Yiddish joke in Los Angeles,
and they just looked at me like, what are you talking about?
What's wrong with you?
It was really bizarre.
Skylight Books in LA in Los Feliz--
it was a great bookstore.
But when they don't laugh at your jokes,
how great can it be?
I'm going to read the shortest poem
in the book, which I still can't memorize
and the simplest poem--
"Stones."
"I would like to be a stone by the side
of a road on a roadless island, of no interest to man,
of no curiosity to animals, invisible to birds.
I would like to step out of my stone
and be another stone on the other side of the road prized
by man, of solace to animals, a spot for birds.
And on my stone, both stones please."