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.

Easter is Here! Let us rejoice for Christ has risen

Hark! A Sonrise
.
Through desert and famine,
Through days without rain
Through death and destruction
A path of great pain.
He walked without crying
He walked for our sins
In light then in darkness
Until all became dim.
He took on the crimes
Our cross he did bear
We just turned our heads
We just didn’t care.
He knew we’d betray him
He knew he would die
And in a cold tomb
His body would lie.
But he was the Messiah
This world he would save.
As the Son of the Father
Rose from his earthly grave.
           From the Epilogue of “Stations For a New Millennium” by Leona M Seufert

Poem of the Week

It’s a horrible time with children starving in Gaza. They can’t celebrate Ramadan because there is no food or it’s too expensive. For Christians, we are coming to the last weeks of Lent when Christ died a horrible death for mankind’s sins. My poem reflects the horrors that are happening in our world. Read and weep:
.
MT 25:42 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink
.
21st Century Golgotha

And the world turns in sorrow
And the world turns in pain
People are tortured
And killed in God’s name.
.
A planet is ravished,
A planet is defiled.
Sin upon sin
By mankind piles high.
.
The devil is walking
His power takes hold.
Christ’s 21st Century
Golgotha unfolds.
.
Bleeding and battered
Head crowned with thorns
The Via Dolarosa
From our selfishness reborn.
.
Prolog to “Stations of the Cross For a New Millennium
               @2022 Leona M Seufert

Poem in Memory of a Friend

Who Will Light Your Candle?
In memory of my friend Marguerite Dolch
.
Who will light your candle
When I’m gone?
Who will sing in your memory, a song?
Yahrzeits come and go
You’re forgotten, I know.
In some grave you lie.
Does anyone for you cry?
.
The memories inside my soul
Will never grow old.
Though years keep us apart
You’ll always be in my heart.
When I too have passed
This poem I’ll leave behind.
Your photo and a burnt out candle
They’ll also find.

Poem for the New Year

New Beginnings

 

The snow falls today changing the landscape.
The calendar has flipped another year…
But does it matter?
It’s only a change of digits
Life recognizes no calendar dates.
.
The good will march on with the bad.
The wars and politics will continue.
Would New Year’s resolutions change anything?
But as an artist I must move on.
I can’t stay mired on the paths of yesterday.
I must try to bust out of repetition and sameness.
I must muster the courage
To redefine my life.
So here’s to new beginnings…
As I shout: “I will reach for the stars”!

Ode to St. Joseph

Inspired by the song “Mary can You Hear?”

Joseph Can You See?

Joseph can you see
The light that shines on Mary?
.
Joseph can you hear
The angels whispering in the night?
,
All the stars are dim
For the great one shines on Him.
,
Joseph did you know
Your son’s saving destiny?
,
Joseph can you see
The sun rise across the pastures.
,
The candle you will light
Will shine on a heavenly king tonight
,
Joseph can you see
How your child will set us free?
,
Joseph he’s the one
The prophets said would come.
,
To turn the world around
For humanity a new era he will found.
,
Joseph can you see
His rule down through all eternity?
,
Joseph here we are
We need his guiding star.
,
Joseph ask your son,
How this world’s sins can be undone.                            ©2023   –  Leona M Seufert

A Holiday Poem

Black Friday, Cyber Mon, and now the shop until you drop sales season begins:
.
To Hell With Christmas

It’s holiday time in America
Hannuka and Christmas be dammed.
We’re stampeding Walmart and Target,
Our SUVs will be crammed.
.
Is this what Jesus was born for,
People killed for midnight sales?
Socks or an I-Pod at half price –
Spend, spend, spend, still prevails.
.
This year the greed is for bargains.
Even Santa’s got into the act.
He sold his soul for cheap flat screens.
His partner, the devil’s, out back.
.
So come on Dancer and come on Blitzen
Trample the crèche on the lawn.
Don’t matter how we got it
As long as it’s 75% off at dawn!