Traffic buzzes by
The ambulance sirens rail
People check their texts
They look up for the buses
Then down at their stupid phones

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

Not for my honor
Not for my father's honor
But for Your honor
Yonatan ben Uziel 
said it, meant it, and it worked

44-45

Freedom in freedom,

Is it the right way to go?

Wynton Marsalis shakes his head no

"No freedom in freedom," he says

"only freedom in structure"

It's de rigueur

Talmudic rabbis agree

This we must understand

In Egypt, Israel, any land

There is no free man

Without the Torah of G-d.

43

Structureless poems;

do they exist? he asks me.

I think of Wynton:

"There's no freedom in freedom,

only freedom in strucure."

42: Tanka of Shame

We can be convinced
and shamed into believing
that we are no good.
Those who made us feel that way
are mistaken... What a shame.

5 A.M.

All I want is more
(of many things- but not gas)
Now I want more sleep
At 6 I'll want my soul back
And to get to work on time

40

My disappointment
with you goes back to day one
you may feel the same
and yet there is no one else
from that womb and from that house

39.

What about contests?

Is that old saying the truth?

Compete with yourself

But kinat sofrim is good

No man is his own contest.

October 23, 2008