Words
Bending Toward Words
Monday, August 21, 2023
ELUL DAY 4
Sunday, August 28, 2022
Elul Day 1. Decide
Leaves turned the seasons
Calendars flipped through decades
And I thought of telling my story
From the day she kissed me in my kitchen
From the time she kicked me in the shin
when I said I could not walk in the snow
For years she wrote of Jesus, of saving grace
of praying for forgiveness
Later on she moved to a mountain
where she created an enclave for her family
We parted and she said we could talk
but never about that time when she sinned
She and I wrote once or twice a year
0f this and that, small things
Sometimes books but in time she only read
tomes on Jesus, of people who followed
and people who led missions to places
where worship had a different lexicon
Whenever I began to tell of my life
she changed the subject
When did I decide to write a letter
telling her about my relationship
of over forty years
years of joy
I sent the letter
Her son wrote to me saying she had died
before she read the letter
He read the letter
Friday, August 26, 2022
Return
I know that I have been absent for a year, but it is Elul once again and I’ve decided to return. Starting tomorrow I’ll post an Elul poem or prose piece.
Saturday, August 14, 2021
I Want to Tell About Me
I am the last person to know
who did what to whom
or whose marriage tilts
toward divorce or who has a
lover they meet once a week
I bring nothing in return for
snippets of gossip
I don’t carry juicy tidbits
to add to a conversation
Adonai, look into my heart
eavesdrop on my words
I try to follow You with words
and actions not sullied by
those who flaunt your
blueprint for life
I want to sing of your love
I want to praise the grandeur
of creation
Adonai, enfold me in your arms
Let me worship in your house
Don’t lump me with those who
choose a path led by charlatans
Adonai, look my way
Don’t test my loyalty
Cover me with your grace
wrap me with your garments
I can’t promise to never veer
but each day I shall wait on You
And if I fall I will get up
and look your way
gather myself
and walk toward You
I will call your name
Adonai
Day Five Elul
Prompt : Want
Friday, August 13, 2021
Commit
To Commit
I have found the one
whom my soul loves——Song of Solomon 3:4
I complete myself
My wild and adventuresome
soulmate, my love
——Song of Solomon 3:4
Elul: Day Four
Prompt: Commit
Thursday, August 12, 2021
Choose
What to read?
Perhaps a Queer romance? Or
biblical commentary unveiling
truth as seen by the author
or a memoir that upends a simple life—
writing of conflict and a sink
of dirty dishes, silverware
with meal remnants, wine glasses
with a ring of residue
What to read ?
Shall I dip into a book outlining
forgiveness? A how-to for those
who need a road map.
and a reminder for others
What to read?
Day Four Elul
Prompt: Choose
Wednesday, August 11, 2021
When Stories Grow
Prepare Me
to look inside myself
before I tread beyond my marrow
Let me enter the place where my stories take root
Let me rub each word to erase any magnification
to cleanse away the dressing-up of truth
so the tale is not enlarged
or clothed in new garments
only then I will look beyond myself
Day 3 Three Elul
Prompt: Prepare
Tuesday, August 10, 2021
Finding the Holy Each Day
We have what we seek, it is there all the time,
and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us.—
——Thomas Merton
When dark settles between tree limbs
When sounds interrupt quiet
I wait
I wait to hear a voice break through—
shatter silence
I enter prayer, speak to one
who hides His face
who waits for me
to speak
Hashem I say
Prompt Word: Seek
Monday, August 9, 2021
A Riff on Psalm 25
I don’t want other people to decide who I am.
I want to decide that for myself.——Emma Watson
So many ask why?
Why believe in one
whose face is hidden
beneath words
I chant Your praise,
off-key and with a stutter
of Hebrew syllables
You hear my soul song
My praise
I stand wrapped in a cocoon
of cloth offering praise
I am not ashamed
of my song
You uncover sounds
beneath the depth of
my words, filling spaces
I chant my praise
Let others
follow false idols
messiahs of wealth
I will praise You
without shame
Day 1 Elul
Prompt : Decide
Saturday, February 27, 2021
GODTIME
So I call on your name
knowing you will answer
Fisher
GOD TIME
You
Me
We talk
First you
Then me
I ask you how you doing
And you tell me about how you got a traffic ticket
I ask if you can get it fixed
You answer about your uncle joe
who knows someone
in the precinct
near Katz’s delicatessen
named Bernie
He’s always got some cow blood
on his apron
I ask you
about your bunions
and if you cut a hole in your sneaker like I told you’
it don’t hurt so much
You’re a mensch
Not like God
Too busy to answer when I ask
Four years ago I asked a Butch
For my cousin’s daughter Zipporah
The one who has acne
Did God answer
Not yet
God takes Godtime
Could be years
until God gets to your letter
Maybe God’s doing a needlepoint
for God’s favorite angel
A guy with a name twisted like a pretzel
You
Me
We know about time
Friday, February 26, 2021
Sunday, January 17, 2021
May It Be So
Psalm 15
I remember the friend who taught
small hands how to create cookies
with M&Ms eyes
one orange candy corn nose
a strip of red licorice
with turned up ends
And the person on a subway train
who led a car filled with
people hanging on straps
in a singing of popular songs
while the car stood at a stand still
in a dark tunnel of tracks
Imagine if you and I
If all of us could step
beyond our own shadows
and walk toward light
sprinkling seeds
into a waiting soil
Saturday, December 12, 2020
I Will Wait andListen
Did You listen when I prayed
Did You hear my words
Perhaps I asked in plain speech
and You wanted sounds leavened
with metaphors and tears
My heart carried plaintive sounds,
my words held fragments of a narrative
My daughter, I said, stopped talking to me
when I spoke of loving a woman
She left no space to speak
I prayed and asked for help—
Year after year I spoke and you remained
cloistered, silent and withdrawn
Were you testing my resolve
Now years beyond
my first request
a doorway opened
and we shared words
—syllables exchanged between strangers
Now I pray for a bridge
to span the divide
I will wait and listen
Sunday, November 29, 2020
Two Sides to Words
Psalm 12
Two Sides to Words
When lies intrude
displacing truths
with fabrications
a collision exists
between words
that ferment unease
and words that cross boundaries
to smooth rough places
to offer hope
When people speak with hollow words
with words of derision
with words that spew unrest
Adonai looks upon his gift
of language—mangled, distorted
by supple tongues and shorn of love
and seeks those who use words
to bless, to love
to embrace
Sunday, November 8, 2020
Wandering on a Möbius
Psalm 11
G-d of many names
I called you Adonai
I called you Jesus
Today I call you Adonai
and wrap myself
in ancient words
You heard me
Watched while
I pursued you
Walked with me
Sheltered me
within your embrace
I heard others
snicker, paint me
chameleon
Turn their cackle
into hollow moans
Force them to chew
their words
until spittle
garbles their speech
Restore their words
Winnowed
scrubbed and cleanest
with love