Jerusalem As a Second Language
Jerusalem For Asher, a time of confusion, a time of desire. One month, and he had yet to kiss Galina, yet to hold her hand. Their most intimate moments were…
Iphigenia in Baltimore
Sing to me, oh Muse, of Beatrice Fleck, thirty-six-year-old virginal fourth-grade teacher, strongest woman alive, and covert writer of erotic novelettes. Unsullied not by choice but by the inscrutable designs…
The Narrow Road to the Monastery
Dear Lightning it was the lightning Lord that knocked the tall firs down One fir on either side Across the narrow road to the monastery / Trapping me there in…
The Stillness
Rolling across the lawn It sometimes stops me dead. My rolling girls stop too, knowing Something’s gone wrong again. One of them, I can’t remember who, Crawls through the grass…
Feldenkrais Class, Jerusalem
I think of David’s rod deep under Silwan— visions of Batsheva mouth to the earth: “Now turn on your right side without thinking of your right side.” My transplanted spine,…
Daffodil Waves
I. “The colline were covered in daffodils,” my Nonna tells me. II. Green grows yellow with swollen seeds. How suddenly they open releasing their egg yolk trumpets. III. I am…
A Ghazal: Intimations of Ghalib
Did I walk from his party, thirsty and dry? If I had quit drinking where was the Saqi? In one shaft, she has the two impaled. First my head, now…
Start My Day
Slate blue clouds, bare trees Standing sentinel: in the air A mild chill. What better day, Dear God, to be alive, to be still.