Tag: Creativity

Naïve, or: Necessary

ben Alexander7 Comments

My 1st ‘tritina’

Those who've faced death know it's easy to lose hope
Though, really, death is simply necessary
Holding a positive outlook's not naïve 

Conservatives think liberals too naïve 
Sometimes, one need be pragmatic despite hope
Sometimes, more than pragmatism's necessary

Foolish Pandora's hope was necessary 
Smiling through endless hardships is not naïve 
For life and death are much the same without hope

Human hope. It's necessary, not naïve.

Without hope, there is only time

Hope… which is whispered from Pandora’s box only after all the other plagues and sorrows had escaped, is the best and last of all things. Without it, there is only time. And time pushes at our backs like a centrifuge, forcing us outward and away, until it nudges us into oblivion.

― Ian Caldwell (b. 1976), The Rule of Four

Twitter poetry 2021: Week 19

ben Alexander6 Comments

My blogger-poet-friend Ingrid inspired me to create a Twitter account and start writing #APoemADay, which I began on January 1, 2021.

Due to the ongoing violence in Israel, I ended up posting eight Twitter poems this week, instead of the usual seven. If you’d like to read my [general] perspective on the current explosion of violence here in Israel, you may read that here.

Anyway, below is my 19th week of Twitter poems:

Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem,
David

Tech support, or: Emet (compiled)

ben Alexander59 Comments 
A mystical Rabbi from Prague 
Taught philosophy weekly by vlog; 
'Twas recorded by Golem, 
Who managed the forum 
From the back of Old-New Synagogue

The great Sage, in slow, measured breaths 
Gave new meanings to old Shibboleths 
But this so flustered Golem 
That none could control him 
And the truth thus became Golem's death

Came the wild hordes of Gog and Magog, 
Cheering Golem's destruction in Prague; 
Death had come of God's truth 
When self-doubt conquered youth; 
Redemption- could emerge from Man's fog

From below, Golem heard the great war, 
Grasping then that the truth was much more 
Than a threat to forfend, 
But a gift to defend, 
He arose from the ground and the gore

Thus was Golem's resurrection - 
For he was, like men true, a good son; 
He thwarted God's plan 
By safeguarding Man, 
Thus achieving his own redemption

d’Verse

Open link night

OLN means we can choose any one poem to post today – no specific prompt, form, rhyme scheme, or length.

As usual, I am sharing an old poem of mine, which I wrote nearly one year ago when I first created this blog. It’s a narrative of my own creation, based upon Jewish mythology. The two stories that inspired this piece are the myths of Golem and the War of Gog and Magog.

This poem was originally written as a series of limericks, which were each posted separately.

Loose peoples, or: One tightly knit?

ben Alexander47 Comments

My 1st ‘blues stanza’

Oh, Hebrew has long been our people's tongue
Holy tongue, it's always been our ancient tongue
That few know today for we're so far-flung

Most Jews have seen it only in prayer books
Though most don't ever open up prayer books
How many give the Torah even single looks?

Diaspora Jews from Israel live split
Peoples since Babel times are always split
Are Jews loose peoples or one tightly knit?

Foods, customs, history also cultures define
But more so our shared languages cultures define
We Jews fast unraveling, no longer entwined

We're scattered across shores of oceans blue
Words foreign float across those oceans blue
Oh, what unites us? Perhaps I never knew...

d’Verse prompt:

Blue Tuesday

At d’Verse, we were prompted to “write blue” ~ a splash of blue, an ocean of blue, a shimmer of blue. Gaze into the distance, or look down at the sapphire on your finger. Take us to the Blue Ridge Mountains or the Blue Lagoon. Pour a Blue Monday cocktail, slap some blues on the juke box and let’s poem.

Bonus: