the Semienite kings erected stelae
to the kingdom of the wrestling with God;
Ethiopian hinterlands ruled with the iron fist of Judea,
the flag of Magen David swaying in Abyssinian winds.
Judit?battle-hungry commander of war,
panzer-woman of Scriptural Armageddon!
the queen casts her leather noose
and steers the forces of Beta Israel
into a battle of redemption and of honor
conducted in a strong and Hebraic iron tradition
not even a Holocaust could ever quell!
Categories:
stelae, god, history,
Form: Free verse
True,
they have seen more
than their age.
But in the hazy,
half morning
field of “stelae”,
we, somnambulant
observers,
select our optimal view
between the pages of the Talmud.
Coded,
In the text of your staccato voice,
there is,
our consensual agreement of being.
It is not quite,
the signatured artefact
of strict adherence,
more the oral history
of a recent past.
And,
having recorded
our verse,
concrete and solid.
You have in your mind
the route of discussion.
It is the briefest of tours,
and talks of lives lived
preceding these recent events.
We return.
The streets now awash
with preparation,
I commit to memory the impression of you.
I am conscious.
Limbs that will soon ache with fatigue,
alight from metro and tram
and converge,
on a morning
that is already spent.
Categories:
stelae, places
Form: Narrative