admin
Look, it’s not the Kinneret
but the water is blue,
and there’s an Israeli flag out front
by the concrete barriers put in place
to prevent a terrorist
from driving a pickup truck
through the entrance.
There are blue-and-white pennants
hanging over the pool, and blue-and-white
plastic dividers between the lanes,
and on the front of the building,
instead of a yellow Jewish star,
there’s a big blue J,
a different kind of symbol
of being Jewish.
In the hallway leading to the pool
are blue t-shirts with the word “HOPE”
stenciled on the front, a t-shirt for every
hostage, and the water in the Olympic-size pool
is so warm you might think you’re swimming
in the Mediterranean instead of in a pool
in one of Chicago’s northern suburbs.
And on the computer screen in the lobby,
welcoming and bidding you farewell, are
three Hebrew words—libenu ba mizrach—
our hearts are in the east, while our bodies
are here, hundreds of miles from Israel,
swimming at the J.
______
Bruce Black is editorial director of The Jewish Writing Project. His poetry, personal essays, and
stories have appeared in numerous publications, including Mid-Atlantic Review, Write-Haus,
Soul-Lit, The BeZine, Bearings, Poetry Super Highway, Poetica, Lehrhaus, Atherton Review,
Elephant Journal, Tiferet, Hevria, Jewthink, The Jewish Literary Journal, The Reform Jewish
Quarterly, Mindbodygreen, Cricket, and Chicken Soup for the Soul. He lives in Highland Park,
IL.
so vivid! after reading it twice i was surprised to find myself on dry land!