About Poetry

Recently
increasingly
poetry
calls to me

Only to her I speak
and with her I sleep
after we've completed
dancing with one heart beat

I'm sitting at my desk, when I should be in bed:

My going to sleep
can be a retreat,
from facing reality - 
my dread of clarity.

Or - a brave march,
leading my parched soul
to the shop overnight
for tuning and tightening.

As I sit here resisting a rest
I desist from partaking of both
the stolen pleasure of escape
and my Divine nightly remake.

Before praying
there's prayer for prayer,
and prayer for that,
and it keeps going back.

Chelsea Canyon

By Neil Fleischmann

Woke up alone Sunday
Dragged myself outside
Otherwise, life stayed the same

We met at a workshop
She read hers about sewing
I shared mine about carousels

We took a walk together
She introduced me to Jane
Otherwise, life stayed the same

The next week when she stood me up
I waited and then never saw her again
Life will forever be otherwise

Judgment: A Pirkei Avot Poem

Don’t judge alone,

only One can judge alone.

Don’t judge till you’re inside

your friend’s same situation.

Don’t judge like a lawyer;

see both sides as equally guilty.

Don’t judge impatiently

or with too much negativity.

Don’t misjudge the fact that

as a human you will judge.