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                

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

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

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

#BlogElul Day 29

 Repent 

you start where you stand

review the past year and find

frayed places to repair

#BlogElul Day 28

 Give in and Aploogize

You gotta give some

relax the do and don’t

Forget about waiting on

someone else to strut

one foot and the other—

swallow being stubborn—

if you wait until one foot

standing on the other side

time may just keep moving—

no one hears when you shout

from that distance

say what you need to say now

#BlogElul Day 27

Bless

Blessings surround me

As I hear silence circle

I sense God’s presence

#BlogElul Day 26

 Create

i render a landscape in pen and ink

add mountains with raw umber

and burnt sienna watercolors—

step back and dip a brush into

indian red and rose 

add a hint of sun

spray water across the paper

take care not to blur colors 

dip a wide brush into cerulean

blue—a faint color waiting for

ultramarine to bellow across

white rough watercolor paper—

add trees—mountain paper birch, 

quaking aspen, and one unseen tree—

as an afterthought i ink in

a line of spruce pines

and a lone jack pine

i create an echo

a facsimile