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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 LIFE’S LIKE THE GRAND OLE’ OPERA

because my tulips dig their way 

out of winter’s hard packed snow

because every wave 

was born in the Arctic Ocean

because every artist feels colors 

i their souls

because this second is pushed

aside by another on its way

because loving like i was twenty

Linda Watskin                                  

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