Friday, November 23, 2012

Still frame

I look up to think while
writing an email
to Grandma

I already told her
about the hurricane
and this boy and that one

and about Thanksgiving
with my mother's family

I could tell her about
the light that comes through

and brightens one bold stripe
of color on each of
three chairs

that face toward the kitchen

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

A million tomorrows / Yeshivat Hadar #3

Today while the blossoms
still cling to the vines
I'll taste your strawberries
and drink your sweet wines
A million tomorrows
shall all pass away
'Ere I forget
all the joy that is mine
today

- lullaby my father sings


Jewish Home Lifecare. Listening to stories, bits of biographical information on repeat. Five or more times within a conversation. Where am I? What's your name? Then right back into the meager slideshow. A reflection on her parents. A story about her son. A statement about why people die. A description of her home city. A reflection on her parents. A story about her son. A story about her son.

If I were to someday lose my awareness of what I've said, what I've not yet said. If I were to someday lose most of my memories, to have my mind siphon off the things it decides are superfluous to my sense of self, my sense of narrative, my sense of meaning, of relationship, of connection. If I were to someday lose everything but that upon which I've dwelt, those hubs at the centers of thoughtwebs, those times that I circle back to, replaying, whether recapturing their happiness or seeing how things could have been different.

What would be the moments I would play over and over again to anyone who would listen?

What would I want to communicate? What would be the emotional tenor?

What can I do now to make sure that the dominant tropes are love, gratitude, meaning, joy, a sense of peace, and all of the ideas and landscapes and beliefs and people who give me these feelings? Are these what I want the dominant tropes to be? In any case, how much control do I have over which aspects of my being, my experiences, will demonstrate staying power?

Cleanse before sleep each night. Be passionate. Breathe in, breathe out, and live.

V'shavti b'veit Hashem l'orech yamim



(Ties in with this, written a little over a year ago.)

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Prayer for Comfort

I wish you
a roof
I wish you
warmth
I wish you
hugs
I wish you
sleep
I wish you
marshmallows

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Literary empaths

You keep your poor and your hungry
We'll sit here aching
to remove errant apostrophes
from non-profit websites

All over the world paragraphs are suffering
from improper spacing and all other sorts
of preventable illnesses

We hereby deplore
the injustice dealt to homophones, the disregard given
to commas, the ways in which modifiers
are just left dangling

We're not trying to cause any ripples
Activism has never been our raison d'ĂȘtre
really we'd prefer to keep a low profile

It's just that we can't sleep at night
when sentences are languishing
on personal blogs