Poems

I wrote several poems in poetry workshop class last semester. Here are a few samples. Mostly about Israel...

Masada

The air over the Dead Sea
shimmers and pulsates
like a force wall
from a sci-fi movie
I squint outwards
into the heat
It bounces off the
canyon walls of En Gedi
and distant shores of Jordan

I am standing on an ancient
fortress rising from
the baking dust of the 
arid desert gently sloping
above the acidic waters

Moans of the dying
and screams of the anguished
echo up from the
valleys of history
I can see the vultures
as they circle in lazy
lurid loops above a dying
sunset

Blood lies in pools
and runs in rivulets
from every abode
They had no other choice
we are told
Women and children first
Slain by the men's swords
then these slew each other
until only one remained
taking the curse upon himself
He fell on his own blade
The Romans were defeated
before they even breached the gates

I stand on the edge
staring at the crumbling walls
and fallen bricks
letting the sun
beat on my
bare head
I wonder if I would
have done the same
to escape slavery
and living death

The hot air rises
from the Dead Sea
fans my dripping face
and I taste
salt

On the Shores of Galilee

I walk down the shore

on a dirt path

away from my hotel

as cars belch fumes

on nearby roads

and bikini clad

swimmers soak themselves

in the nearby swimming pool 

surrounded by perfectly

manicured green lawns

He walked here

his bare toes upon

the pebble strewn shore

so small

this three mile

half moon of land

around the Galilean Sea

Bethany, Capernaum, Tiberius

All within my naked eye

He sweated

on wooden boats

as he fished

and under the midday sun

he burned

My own feet stand on a dock staring out

onto the water he quieted

and the cities he lived in

They feel so gritty, so dirty and so loud

as techno-pop music ripples

across the water

where gaudy lights glow

Over the concert’s steady beat

a starry-eyed couple is kissing

in the dark

I can hear their quickened breath

I am standing where he walked

dirt in his fingernails

where a woman washed his feet

with her hair

Only a few minutes’ walk

from here

He danced at weddings

drank wine

and laughed with the men

I feel the weight of the night sky

he once gazed at

pressing in with the reality

of his humanity

and the unity of this

with my own desperate

longings

I think of how

I sailed in a wooden boat

a few hours ago

on this sea

no storm

and no oily fishermen

just jet skis

following our waves

and the hum of our modern engines

as droplets of water

sprayed my sunburn cheeks

He walked on this water

he was here

just as I am now

I close my eyes

and breathe

wondering what

he would have smelled like

and I hear the water

lap against the rocky

shores