Morning & Evening

Elul is the month of preparation for Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur In Aramaic it means �search.� It can be expanded as an acronym for "Ani L'dodi V'dodi Li" which reads: "I am to my Beloved and my Beloved is to me."

I: Morning

Like you diminished him,
the earthy and puff-chested golem
after the breath: of heaven
and terrestrial means both, so none
would be outnumbered, a blob
of human potential, without
a full heart or mouth, without
the ability to acquiesce,
before the rib (where
before I stretched
across cosmological meadows,
pearly and nebulous distances):
I can say now, in old
and expected meters how
you have hemmed me in
behind and before,
so that you are now able
to lay your hand upon my head
and sketch the psalms
like braille into mindful chambers,
some hang from my eyes, my lips
from tendrils of hair or
by my teeth. I pray by the skin.
I gave myself up willingly, I asked
for the lesson and you saw it
all from the beginning
alighting over the waters.

II: Evening

These are days we work for
to start over, gratefully falling short
we come with all our burden
to be lifted off our shoulders
like the first winter snows
dusted from our boots,
watching the geometric meaning melt
under out breath.
To fast out all our murky madnesses
Ready and red cheeked
when we return home
through the door. These are days
when books will open;
and they will close.
Another birthing, another brit,
another promise untied
and good news tethered black
and wound about my reverent arms.
I carry the blood without
the stamp, I feel the passage
of manna and deserts
I hear the opportunity for connection
offered like thunder in my ears
I know that everything that obscures
my light from your eyes
will be made to fall and perish,
I welcome the judgment
that reminds me: I Am
growth-seeking; I am
unlimited.

Reviews

[Samuel Ferris]

reminds me of the end is my beginning and the beginning my end.
same kind of structure. I love the line "to lay your hand upon my head
and sketch the psalms
like braille into mindful chambers," one of the coolest metaphors iv read and the timeing is so good. great on going biblical illusion as well. subtle.