Poem of the Week

The Rented Bar Mitzvah
.
Your rented Torah rolls open
Before you as you pause,
Hoping not to lose your place.
.
Hours spent, tutored in Hebrew
You still can’t wrap your tongue
Around the missing vowels.
.
Are you doing this
In praise of Adoni
Or to fulfill your parent’s needs?
.
Months of rehearsals,
Hours of memorization;
You wish yourself elsewhere.
.
They are your parent’s friends,
Not a congregation, not a community.
Their piercing eyes make you shiver.
.
This is your time to shine,
Prove you can walk into manhood.
You trip and fall on the Psalm’s words.
.
Your yarmulke slips
Further south on your head.
You want to hide beneath your prayer shawl.
.
Garlic sauce smells remind you
That this is no synagogue.
Welcome to the 21st Century rented Bar Mitzvah!

Announcing Garwood’s 1st annual poetry festival

Celebrate National Poetry Month with Garwood’s 1^st annual poetry festival… poetry readings on Sat April 20, Sun April 21. Free

National Poetry month poem of the week

I believe that it’s better to “show don’t tell” when writing about a subject. I stay away from just describing something and instead use words that will lead the reader to create an image in their mind.
Can you guess, before I get to the end of this poem, who the Silver Stallion is?
.
I Ride the Silver Stallion
.
I ride the silver stallion
Through marshes and wetlands.
Spurring him on, faster, and faster
His gallop parts the grass, the egrets fly.
.
Above, the sky turns menacingly dark.
Rain falls like stones from a slingshot
Pelting me and my silver stallion.
He moves slower, the egrets disappear.
.
Into the mist we ride
The morning sun obscured.
A hawk circles above us
A town passes by the wayside.
.
The rain drops glisten off his sides.
I feel his movement beneath me
As we enter the dark tunnel.
Only his hoof beats can be heard.
.
We come out into the light
Then submerge into Penn Station,
The drab canyons of Manhattan above.
Another wet Friday’s commute begun.
.
I slip my novel into my bag,
Stand up and move slowly with the crowd.
My steed, the silver train,
Now a fond fantasy, left behind.

It’s National Poetry Month!

April is National Poetry Month! It was first introduced in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets as a way to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the United States.

My theme for this year is “Let poetry lift your soul” and I’ll be posting one of my poems each week throughout the month.