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Heritage
Moses went up the mountain
Looking for the answers
Aaron stayed below
Calling to the dancers
Moses and Aaron
Eyes looking up
Hands reaching out
AAron and Moses
Two at the start
Now a little of each
In each head and heart
BUBBE’S LESSONS
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A promise kept out of fear of loss is like the kiss that signals the death of friendship--or love
When fortune gives give back but heed the wise ones who always keep enough
to start over again when fortune turns away and laughs--as it will
Beauty shrinks in the eye of the appraiser until the tiniest flaw overrules the bliss
of near perfection
As mice sniff out a trail of crumbs and shamelessly feast so too will the greedy sniff out the trail to a fool’s open purse and likewise feast
When the kitchen is heated and the pots filled and bubbling it is only then that children can be counseled without error
The tools of war can never be deemed holy yet when used to defend the righteous and innocent are they not at least equal in weight on the scale of good as the tools that make food for the table--serving life with a sharpened blade?
A day begun with music is already fated to be blessed with sweet memories
The story is told of an errant angel who in wandering far from the gates of heaven-- lost the way back--and fearing to be stranded forever with wings torn and useless-- thought to send up a plea for help- but each time words of a prayer began to be mouthed--the angel laughed instead and laughed again and again unable to stop as memories of adventures in the time that was stolen came dancing back to be relived with glee as if happening anew --so it wasn’t a solemn plea for return that drifted up to the listeners above but peels of delight-- that even the sternest of heavenly judges could not help but share--if only a little--and always in secret of course. The end of this story tells of how the errant angel’s records in the heavenly files were either misplaced or simply vanished so that the link between what was sent from below to those above was gone and soon forgotten but what was to remain forever were peels of delight -the sweet sweet music of perfect contentment-- that rolled on and on--and with its source unknown came to be taken as just another of heaven’s mysterious ways of making eternity pass with song and laughter . Let the perils and rewards in this story guide those who would cut off all ties as they wander far from home.
Making sense of the senseless is an everyday calling taken up by the worker - the leader - the student - the joker- the pious ones -doubting ones - thieves and thinkers-- mothers and fathers and babes in arms--ready to go from breath number one with questions--questions--oh may they someday lead to a single answer that proceeds to diminish --rather than add to the store of untruths--and though this be compared to the leveling of a mountain one pebble at a time--let it be hailed as a miracle long awaited
BIBLE STORIES--unwritten
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JACOB’S BURDEN
DANIEL’S ROPE
JOSEPH’S SECRET GAMES OF CHANCE
LOT’S WAGON POINTING TO THE DESERT
SOLOMON’S UNFINISHED MAP OF THE HEAVENS
RUTH’S SHOUT TO THE MOON
ONAN’S PRIZE GOAT
JUDITH’S SMILE
HAMAN’S DREAM OF GOLDEN CHARIOTS
EZEKIAL’S DRUM
MICAH’S ARROW
REBEKAH’S FORGOTTEN SONGS OF PRAISE
ASHER’S DOUBTS
DAVID’S SURPRISES
ENOCH’s TOWER
ELIJAH’S WHISTLE
SARAI AND ABRAM’S DANCE AT MIDNIGHT
JOB’S LAST FEAST
NOAH’S PROMISE HOPE REGRET
ADAM’S MEMORY OF HEARING LAUGHTER IN THE CLOUDS
JUST AS THE MIGHTY WINDS OF A VIOLENT STORM
SNAPPED BACK WITH A HOWL AND BECAME A ZEPHYR
THAT OH SO GENTLY CARESSED HIS FACE AND DRIED HIS TEARS
AT LAST
EVE’S SIGH OF CONTENTMENT
RITUAL
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Just another song of welcome
da da da dum dum dum da da dee
Bring the flowers
closer to the table
bring the table
closer to the children
bring the children
closer to each other
dum da da dum da dee dee dee
Just another twirl and bow
da da da da da da da dum
Bring the music
closer to the window
bring the window
open to the street
bring the street
open to the people
awaiting the dance
da da dum dum dum dee dee dum
Just another hand to clasp
dee dee dee dum da dee dee
Bring the women
closer to the candles
bring the candles
closer to the bed
bring the bed
closer to the mirror
that never lies
dum da da dee da da dum dum dee da da dum dum dee
just another melody bringing us closer to sleep
FALSE PRAYER
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Draw up a contract- I’ll sign without reading-though it binds me
to clauses and penalties unknown until called on by you alone
Add up a bill and I’ll pay without question no matter the cost--
fair or not
Write out a pledge and I’ll hold the terms sacred
night and day whatever the pain and loss
Present a challenge with letters blazing in the sky
and I’’ll raise my hand in your defense to the bitter end
Would you have my door open to the grimiest stranger?
done!
Would you have my last loaf of bread belong to the world?
done and done!
And what do I ask in return?
nothing except--a hint--a clue--a nudge--anything--
to convince me you are listening--
anything
PATRIARCH’S RETREAT
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There is no glory in my bones
nor have I lately witnessed eagles in the sky transforming into doves
and back again
or scrambled for words to lay on the music of the deep
or set the table for multitudes shouting for their plates to be filled
even while knowing that those to make and serve the feast they’ve been promised
have yet to arrive.
Magic falters
Doors close
Love waits
Am I to laugh
to rage
to spin around and leap beyond the catch of memory
dreams and reasoned thought
to that place from which the latter three take sustenance
keep vigil
draw urges to construct a web of meanings out of flashes
and rumbling
given as clues by a source or sources hidden within an ever distant
unapproachable realm of storms and silence?
Wisdom stales
Beliefs shatter
Needs trap and madden
Am I to kneel
to run
to plant my feet and spin around once more?
Absent of glory I am armed with doubt alone
sufficient for the day.
PATRIARCH’S ADVANCE
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So-drifting away from the rush of seasons
will not unbud a single twig
or darken the whitening of the farthest peaks
or stay the drop of cascading rivers
or reconfigure the angles set by chin and nose
and glaring eyes---
these are facts--uncontested--frozen truths--
yet what will not transform in the heat
of a poem in the making--
or a splash of color
or a run of notes
or a trick of the mind
dazzling itself with Xs and Ys
that lead somehow to acts of daring
making for conscious and unconscious leaps
beyond what is taken by eyes and ears
as absolute--permanent--frozen truths--
to the untraceable sources from which they are drawn
and once there--tracking the streaks and squiggles
that assemble the world of the known--
what will not transform in the heat of a thought
or poem in the making?
LETTER FROM RADOM
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JUSTICE! JUSTICE!
the cries demand to be heard
TRUTH! TRUTH!
the responses insist on control
and the sages ponder and march as they vanish
and what was sworn to is laughed at and forgotten
even as its chiseled into memory
and deeds are rewarded then cursed
and stars weave and wander without aim
and the moon tilts and pushes
and if the earth loses patience and will abide us no longer as feared
shall we beat it and weep or dance on?
and you there in your bed coming out of dreams--so sure you’re alive--
but wait-the day is still young--time yet to rethink--the worrisome dream of the night and what awaits in the day--why not just one darkness into another--
eyes closed--eyes opened?
when sludge and offal are painted for glitter
and bones laid out for the reading of the hour
and clouds form the image of a beast of old
and the spinning wheel spins but nobody wins
except the spinner
JUSTICE! JUSTICE!
is a constant screech
but who to beseech
and who to blame for the weeper’s loss
and the child gone lame?????
silence condemns-- howl is prayer--
and then comes-- truth like a hammer--with the whole world an altar --
and the crowns of reason shattered for adornment-----
and the few become many -- knees and noses scraping the ground---
music swallowed for passion--costumes tailored for ritual fit--
eyes closing on visions of plenty--here-now--everlasting--
and oh the voices--the emblems--the mottoes--the indecipherable codes--the vows-- the chanting --the many rising as one--commanded by perfect belief in heaven’s nod or natures will---to damn pity as sin and with the might of the righteous do what has been ordained----cleanse! --Cleanse!--CLEANSE!---who? what? when???
no --no - no ---what was was and will not be again---still---the pattern--the steps to an end- ---the work-- new...the theme-- unchanged----the result--foretold?????---
and you eternal outsiders--stubbornly planting your bones on a cold hard seat-- take the sureness of this---- the doors of the court of the law of the universe are many times shut--but never locked. .they wait-- and no matter how long--they swing open at last--- --and those blessed with unfailing wonder at the openess of the unknown -- are called on once more to humbly judge truth and rejoice--
-so in conclusion---double lock the gates when the wild dogs are roaming--the last coin in the pocket always for a treat--and may providence bring you days to remember with a chuckle and a shrug
I remain yours forever--truly--(unsigned)
True Prayer
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THE BLOSSOMS TOO SAY IT ALL UNSAID
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