Category: poetry

  I could do no more, no less. The fate  that brought my father here, ill-omened town, stinking of show, deceit and filth-filled  waterways—so outwardly […]

The Ring Cycle   1. The Lure of Gold, 1991 The Dutch masters encourage me to lift the lid of their cigar box in the […]

Things That Are Frayed Yellow hostage ribbons, now dirty and dull. Vocal cords from protesters at Hostage Square, muffling the hoarseness of fruit vendors at […]

In the eighteenth century, laws were passed requiring Eastern European Jews to adopt non-Jewish names; but no record exists of the sale of these names […]

Hatikvah: In Praise of Those Who Persevere Hatikvah. The song I learned during Friday night services at Camp Nah-Jee-Wah in the amphitheater overlooking the lake […]

On October 7, I walked in Berlin between the walls, of the monument of death, a memory bound in the bond of life, with the […]

  What Hath God Wrought! A girl thought these words should be the first                         dotted and dashed onto paper letters reduced to two gestures, […]

Woman of Valor   Absolute bravery is the blood from the womb, red gemstone beating in the heart of her spouse.  She soldiers on. Corseted […]

Morning Bus from Be’er Sheva to Jerusalem In deep predawn lull at the bus stop, you can’t see those you glance at. Dark is king. […]

windows down inhaling juniper and piñon pine Ray Bans resting comfortably on my face I pass road signs pointing to tribal reservation like Acoma   Laguna   […]

In The Necropolis   In the cemetery of Beit She’arim inside a tomb from the third century paved with mosaic and decorated with wildlife reliefs […]

This slick black Pontiac, which traversed Route 66, when that was still a thing.   You twist your key in the ignition, but it won’t. […]

  One day, in the open-air, a poetry reading across Zhongnanhai—right in the Eye of China. You can’t recall a time, or a place, that […]

All who are hungry have a place at my table. My pleasure to serve.   ___________   Pesach Rotem was born and raised in New […]

  My grandmother used her hands to tend the geraniums with their bright red blossoms that sat in terracotta pots on the windowsill of her […]

—From the testimonies of Judy Abrams, Johnny Jablon, and Michael Kutz              Adult Being ten and small, my task with […]

I never heard my parents recite the Kaddish There were only the squat unlovely candles in plain glass jars set out on memorial holidays —the […]

My Brother has been dead for fifteen years   My brother has been dead for fifteen years. Mom says he was blue-eyed and brilliant for […]

I am Called to the Torah Nothing in my home has ever hurt me, but I have heard the tic tic of the projector as […]

Is Anything too hard for the Lord?                                                             —Genesis, 18:14   Hineni Is that You, God, in the shaking leaves in the changed light […]