Random bits of Jewish poetry for a Sunday evening.

I finished reading Marge Piercy's _The Art of Blessing the Day_ a while ago, but never got around to mentioning it on here. Sorry about that. I liked the early poems in the book well enough, but they didn't quite speak to me. Towards the end, though, her poems turn towards observance in general. I found much more that really spoke to me in those poems.

Here are some of the portions that struck me,


From Zeroah: Lamb Shank
"...And we fled, under the sign
of the slaughtered lamb to live
and die for each other. We are
meat that thinks and sings."

From At the New Moon: Rosh Hodesh,
"....from this bone we fashion a bird, extinct
and never yet born, evolving feathers
from our hair, blood from our salt, strength
from our backs, vision from our brains.

Fly out over the city, dove of the light,
owl of the moon, for we are weaving your wings
from our longings, diaphanous and bony...."

I particularly like that one with my recent bird obsession.

This is my very favorite. I think it sums up not only my beliefs, but Judaism quite well.

From Nishmat,
"...We stand in the midst of the burning world
primed to burn with compassionate love and justice,
to turn inward and find holy fire at the core,
to turn outward and see the world that is all
of one flesh with us, see under the trash, through
the smog, the furry be in the apple blossom,
the trout leaping, the candles our ancestors lit for us..."