Written on Dec 2, 2012

 My Kingdom

Built on naps

and indie music

on solitary breaths

in peaceful dark rooms

on words spoken and heard

Now

Thinking about aloneness, thinking about weight, 

thinking about love not being opposite to hate,
thinking about how much I sleep and how much I don't,
thinking about sleep hygiene improving, afraid it actually won't,
thinking about how my WhatsApp messages always make a ping, 

thinking about making changes, then doing the same thing.

Aaron on Har HaZeitim - August 2018

I think I saw your grandfather in the neighborhood

on the way over to your well put epitaph

You might say I spit nickels to get here

Yet it was right before me all along.

(So now I feel like a Silly Billy!)

I wish I could be here for long enough to smell your smoke

to clearly hear your chastisement of love

In the endless wind of this hot Elul day

I think of you thanking me for coming

and then I imagine you questioning the idea of davening here at the kever of your body

But I'd gladly travel six thousand miles for the chance of being bundled with your ever life bound soul again

Now, after lingering, I actually have got to go

(The way I used to stay after lunch until you would "throw me out")

I begin to conjure your countenance,

making a peace sign,

sending me off

Sh"Sh...

 

Sh"Sh...

I abbreviate

Shabbat Shalom
with the letters
S-H, S-H.

I wonder
if there is
something
subliminal

in these sounds,
yearning for quiet:
Sh, Sh...
Shabbos is here

Let us feel
Your hug
and settle
into Your Embrace.

At The Ohel

I stood in front ofthe wall of lit tea lights.
Feeling the combined heat
of their tiny flames.
Breathing in their smoke.
Taking in the scene
behind the door,
before the grave.

A young fellow was
re-shelving Tehillim
next to the candles.
Exuding the vibe
of a shop keeper:
"What are you looking for?"
"Nothing, " I said
meaning, everything.

Getting Home (Written 13 Years Ago)

By Neil Fleischmann

When we

remove the

facades of

our garments

And call down

our final curtain

We will return to

our first clothing;

G-d's light

And our

original drapes;

the Heavens

Unfinished Dance

All my life I’ve put in 

And then taken out my

Right foot, left foot

Right hand, left hand

My whole self

I just need to learn

How to put myself

Back in and then

Shake it all about

Reposted From a 2013 Blog Post