Best Shul Poems
This city has about eight million inhabitants
Surely, one can find some love from these masses
I see the young women with ripped pants
I like the look
But I'm not 20 anymore
I must deal with the realities of age
This exciting metropolis
will eat you alive if you are not careful
Communists, Trumpists, Facists
All out there!
What kind of a woman might I find
in those ideologies?
The three of them don't offer one much hope!
Tonight I will flick on the television
The good old fantasy box is very relaxing
I do try to stay informed
A gruesome murder not far from where I live
took place last night
Guess I should count my blessings
Love is something we all seek
in one way or another
I'll probably go to a reform shul next Friday night
Perhaps my prayers will be answered!
One can always look heavenward for answers
Love will penetrate the core of the urban masses
There is hope
Which we must cling to, friends
if we are to survive
in Gotham
"Baghdad on the Hudson"
as O.Henry named it
Categories:
shul, love, urban,
Form:
Verse
The music
has stopped
and the piano bench is now
empty
He brought the gift
of music to thousands of youth
he also loved the other arts - painting and dance
He cared about oppression and
had a Jackie Robinson poster on
the wall
He went to shul every Yom Kippur
(although I knew he had his doubts)
He moved up in economic status
and he always voted
He read about the lousy
Holocaust in his last years
He was a proud mama's boy
He led choruses in the army
So long Paul Anish from your surviving son
(and he raised two other children
and had a beautiful baby
die at one)
He loved poetry especially Wordsworth
He loved his wife of 56 years
I hope I can be strong and go on without him
So long Pesach - So long
Categories:
shul, death, father, music, music,
Form:
Elegy
Fall has come
and with it the march of the NY Giants
Dangerous game!
But the players do it
for the glory (and the not inconsequential financial rewards)
I will watch the game Sunday
on TV
I have good friends that
don't like the game
But I get thrilled when
the NY Giants win
My uncle met Tiki Barber(of the Giants)
I remember going to an
Orthodox shul
I went to as a youth
Someone said "What's the score?" with a smile
Autumn has arrived
Categories:
shul, autumn, football, seasons,
Form:
Free verse
After years of alienation
from my religion
and after having fun on many
Friday nights at the beach or in a bar
Strangely enough, Shabbes has
come to find a place in my life
The singing- and of course the Shema
revitalizes one
Nothing would happen to me if I
didn't go to shul on Friday
(and sometimes I don't)
but how could I join in
the dancing if I wasn't there?
I have even travelled to
the land of Israel - holy spot for
the three Abrahamic faiths
Strangely enough,Shabbes
Categories:
shul, jewish,
Form:
Classicism
Last night in shul
I saw a young lady
completely out of my age range
She could be my daughter
maybe even my granddaughter
But nevertheless
I couldn't keep my
eyes off her
Enslaved by her beauty and youth
I march to the tune
which the celestial powers
have laid out for me
Peace is hard to find!
Categories:
shul, love,
Form:
Bio
Letting in light
from different
sources
The New Age Shul
continues onward
Dancing, singing , blessings
You can dress comfortably there
I got up and
danced to the glory
of the one before all pretense is useless
I have travelled to the Holy Land
Saw the tribute
to the murdered millions
That was a while back in time
so we can try to forget
Hopefully humanity has
learned something from it
Shalom, yes, Shalom
Categories:
shul, holocaust, jewish,
Form:
Blank verse
Walking on the streets of the Lower East Side
I see Hispanic men playing dominoes excitedly
I see a Chinese woman collecting bottles for sale
I see Orthodox men walking to shul
I see children playing in the courtyard
I feel the poetry rising within me
So I head to the local hangout
OST coffee shop
Order some green tea
They have a composition
book called Matthew's Journal
where I express myself
just about everyday
Then I head off to the kosher bakery
for some humantashen
which is delicious
Another day on the Lower East Side
my turf, my homeland
Categories:
shul, urban, write,
Form:
Free verse
Passed through a period
of reading sports novels
Passed through a Dreiser, Farrell, Malamud, Baldwin
period
I am great at dropping names, aren't I ?
I've read a lot of poetry and have published a number of chapbooks
Once I had 13 poems in a civil rights magazine
Then I passe through a Tolkien period
and published fan - fic
and Tolkienesque poetry
After that I returned to Planet earth
and read "The Rise of David Levinsky" and other novels about the Lower East Side
I sometimes attend a New Age shul
WHERE THEY READ A POEM AT EVERY SERVICE.
poetry won't pay the bills
but it is a good way to socialize
And it often speaks to the heart
It's not everyone's cup of tea
Speaking of that
the Kettle is boiling and
I'll soon have another cup
and read the Book Review section
I had two odes published in the New York Times
last year
Boasting can be fun!
Especially if you are not wealthy
like the majority of the world's poets
and chess players
Categories:
shul, feelings, poetry,
Form:
Blank verse
After many years of enjoying
roast beef and provolone sandwiches
I now attend shul regularly on Friday nights
Kind of a New Age synagogue
It offers women and dancing and singing
A Catholic friend of mine told me I was "following my bliss"
Well, maybe he was right
I like religion although I do enjoy a good sex magazine now and then
C'mon poetic friends out there in the darkness
let us pretend the terrible things we see in the papers
would fly out the window
Categories:
shul, jewish,
Form:
Blank verse
I have an issue of Playboy's beauties
Astonishingly sexy looking
Help, I'm in love with a photograph
I would like to meet her, greet her
I'm in love with a photograph
I picked up an issue for 10 bucks
Help, I'm in love with a photograph
The news today is not at all good
Help, I'm in love with a photograph
I should go to shul, not be a fool!
HELP, I'M IN LOVE WITH A PHOTOGRAPH
Categories:
shul, sexy,
Form:
Blank verse
Prague
a living place
and tourists crowd,
the buildings' grace,
I say it loud,
it was preserved.
Kafka's and Golem's
shadows rest,
at places, gardens
at their best.
A baroque garden,
stylish green,
and artist's craft
for all be seen.
Old Jewish Quarter,
synagogues,
the Altneu Shul,
the tombstones
there,
and crossing Charles Bridge's
cobbled path,
I watched Moldavia's water pass.
A picture,
silently and rare.
Categories:
shul, places
Form:
Rhyme
The holiday has come
The day to atone for one's sins
The rabbi gave a good talk
about immigration
It is a terrible thing
that children are being taken from their parents
in the U.S.A.
The healing part of the service came
I was healed from a terrible illness this year
so went up to the front of the shul
We all prayed for health
The singing of the female cantor was terrific
and a young woman accompanied her on piano
Yom Kippur 5779
I made it to synagogue
Entered into the house of the Lord!
Categories:
shul, america, jewish,
Form:
Free verse
I have worked for a
postcard dealer
who has since retired from
the hobby
Postcard shows are excellent for the
nostalgic
So is some poetry
As a collector
I have plenty of cards with
poems on them
They didn't cost much
As some rare postcards do
Having sold articles about the hobby
I can walk with my head held high !!
Have not yet written anything
like Tolstoy yet
But I a glad to live in America
not Russia
Where I can go to shul
without being hassled - I hope!
As a Tolkien buff
well that is another story altogether......
Categories:
shul, faith, fantasy, poetry,
Form:
Free verse
The State of the Union’s like being in shul –
You stand up and sit down or feel like a fool.
Unless you’re Republican, then you stay seated;
That status may change if Obama’s defeated.
The spectacle seems just a little surreal,
For one can’t quite know what the spectators feel.
Despite the applause and the smiles or the pouts,
Most listeners have to admit to some doubts.
The President says that our Union is strong.
Republicans claim that his statement is wrong.
It’s hard to decide what is truth, which are lies,
When both parties are fighting it out for the prize.
If you want my opinion, I claim an exemption –
For part of the time, I watched “Shawshank Redemption.”
Categories:
shul, political,
Form:
Sonnet
A man walked into a shul
where there was a baby being named
Fired a rifle - killed ten worshipping peacefully
Another horror in our land
When will it end?
After each horror we
trot out the platitudes and express shock
America is a great land in many, many ways
But we have a dark part of our nature
Which sometimes surfaces into our democracy
Let the hate stop!
Let the horrors stop now!
Our land is being undermined
and hope seems a distant dream
Well, we must persist
We have no choice
Categories:
shul, hate, heartbroken, jewish,
Form:
Free verse