Years ago like now

I had my benches and trees
nearby my workplace
Where I would have by brief leaves
in the middle of the day.

Herd immunity

a term now floating through me
sheep wake me from sleep
Covid-19, 6 months in
lying in bed, wondering...

In Hebrew, chemlah:
mercy, pity, compassion,
what we're grateful for.
Not that G-d returns our soul,
bur the emotion He brings.

Like fish in water
we need to be in the air
so that we can live.
And yet we cut ourselves off;
hold our breath, and hide inside.

Sometimes I wonder
if I'm more than the voices
inside of my head
Torah, Rabbis, Tradition,
teachers, parents, therapists

But for G-d alone/
And sometimes I don’t get Him/
Then I’m so alone/
Those times I’m lost from myself/
That’s the worst galus of all

-  December 22, 2009

Joy seems so challenged
during these cramped Covid times
as we live online
praying as the sirens pass
for neighbors dying en masse

125

No words; thoughts, silence,
work, stress, fears, growth, connection.
family and friends
(Torah, Tefilah, podcasts,
juggling phone calls, TV)

What judgments can do:
split a person into two
and it could be you.
And then the truth slips right through
pushed aside and out of view

You're an extrovert
so I get why you asked me
if I mind at all
the quarantine/pandemic.
Being that I'm an empath.

----------------------------------------

Not that I'm not scared
but being an introvert
my space is not jail
but it's a sanctuary
even during quarantine

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I was feeling like
I needed a change in life.
Now everything's changed,
as though from out of the blue,
not just for me, but for you.

------------------------------------------

Still I like to sit
at this screen after bedtime,
this is one constant
amidst all of the changes
here I am again, hello

I know it’s poison
But I get angry inside
Need to pound some clay.
With thanks to Mister Rogers
And to those who challenge me.

118

Apparently it
Takes two weeks to make the mold
of a person’s ear
So said the doctor to a
patient, in the waiting room.

Mauve is the color
Taste and texture halava
It's a straining time
Purple and pink diluted
Peculiar flavor and feel

Today, running late
One thing after another
Kept following me
And I felt off of my game
Which didn’t feel like a game.

Not much evidence
that people read my long shares
- that I should share them.
And yet somehow I choose to,
in my fight with loneliness.

114

Seems it's just one thing
one story we tell ourselves
one issue we have
one weakness that weakens us
one strength that can save the day

Three minutes before
the holy candles are lit
I send my blessings
for light and all that it brings
May you see abundant light.

I could sit all night
and not write a great poem,
so I surrender.
I'll read till I fall asleep,
and maybe dream that poem.

Happy poems must
Be written just like sad ones
With heart felt feelings.
Even poets must admit
Happy feelings can exist.