Poetry Partners #83 'When You Choose War' a poem by Rosemary McMahan of 'Spirit Reflections' ... you cannot stop the Lenten rose’s pale white blossoms from unfurling nor can you command the pink-tinged buds of tulip trees to fold inward. When you choose war, know that the grass still greens in spring, the titmouse seeks… Continue reading Whispered prayers, or: Legions
An Israeli tradition On Friday, our daughter's first grade class had their siddur (prayer book) party, which is considered a milestone for Orthodox Jewish children in Israel. Our daughter's school is unusual in Israel in that half the student body identifies as religious (Orthodox) and the other half identify as non-religious (i.e., secular), unlike the… Continue reading Prayer book party ’22
Senseless, or: Relentless My 1st 'Oseh Shalom' Ukrainian children flee; nuclear power plant set ablaze; senseless, relentless war; please - just stop; let live - Amen. The new 'Oseh Shalom' poetic form I have created a new syllabic form of poetry, based upon the Jewish prayer for peace 'Oseh Shalom', which is sung as a… Continue reading ‘Oseh shalom’, a New Poetic Form
An American sentence: Synagogue services make me out a liar, as does staying home. What's an 'American Sentence'? Allen Ginsberg, inventor of the American Sentence, felt that the haiku didn’t work as well in English. Ginsberg decided to remove the line structure of the haiku, maintaining the requirement of 17 syllables total. He felt that… Continue reading Synagogue services, or: Staying home
An American sentence: I've only found religion in parenthood and penning poetry. What's an 'American Sentence'? Allen Ginsberg, inventor of the American Sentence, felt that the haiku didn’t work as well in English. Ginsberg decided to remove the line structure of the haiku, maintaining the requirement of 17 syllables total. He felt that removing the… Continue reading Literature, or: Liturgy, or:
The tooth fairy Our 6½-year-old daughter believes in the tooth fairy, despite the fact that I've casually mentioned to her that goblins, gnomes, witches, fairies, dwarves, dragons, etc. are all imaginary, mythical creatures. She completely understands all of this, but for some reason, the tooth fairy seems to fall into a separate category in her… Continue reading Supporting belief in the tooth fairy
An Alliterisen Perhaps prayer will work for her Some find wise worshipful words can comfort Whereas worship doesn't do much magic for cynical skeptics, surely she can connect? Should her heart's flowing fantasies supply solace, then that's splendid The Alliterisen The Alliterisen (Complex and Rhyming), a form created by Udit Bhatia, is a simple seven-lined poem… Continue reading Closer, or: Generations
My 1st rondelet Rosh HaShanah[1] Is always a new beginning; Rosh HaShanah Is when Jews eat sweet, round challah[2] ~ Worship: the Creator hymning ~ Commit: themselves to no sinning ~ Rosh HaShanah P.S. This post was scheduled in advance because I am offline for two days (between sunset on Monday and sunset on Wednesday)… Continue reading Pomegranates, or: Apples
The Skeptic's Kaddish 🇮🇱 
You must be logged in to post a comment.