Golden String

Tower of Strength/ City of Refuge cards

A Golden String from David’s harp

A Golden String

from David’s Harp

You are a golden string

from David’s harp

You are a golden string

from David’s harp; joining everything

together with strength, with a

powerful glue…that joins this day,

a weekday; that joins this day,

the Holy Shabbat; in our bodies sung-

in our souls strung-together...with

wisdom-with the ability (le hav cheen) to

judge the difference, the depth...

the join, between…the mundane and the

Holy...

and the mundane

Golden String

Tower of Strength/ City of cards

Song of Songs

…Olive oil, finely beaten, spun between the golden

weight of the infinite lime stones of the press;

pressing virgin sighs back into amber colored

bottles of prayer beads, squeezed between fingers

oozing henna from the painted signature of the

betrothal party, smelling on the desert wind a crest

of scent and smile from the East…black kohl rimmed

eyes shining out from the small shining

brown body of my infant love, naked except for the

scarlet amulet

The scarlet amulet wrapped around his wrist and ankle to

ward off the sailing blue eye.

The black-liquid pools/eyes of obsidian

melted and grown hot again-melting the kohl ringed

protection and magic swirls of the trumpeting sheik-racing his

camel against the East-West-North-South.

The sheep of his flock, rich cream/

his loves breasts, cushions sitting on heaps of lapis lazuli;

the hills on which

his tent is pitched

Tower of Strength/ City of Refuge cards

Eve before the Seder

The Eve before the Eve of Pessach-

I love to wander through the streets and alleys of

Jerusalem.

I make the rounds to all the restaurants…to the humble

falafel stand…on the corner of Ben Yehuda and Hillel

Street-to the grand façade and glitter of…Kinoor David What makes this night different from …any other night?

Tonight, humble or grand-close to midnight, and for long

hours afterwards-

the restaurant owners and chefs, have emptied out their

pantries, laying or

tumbling their huge copper pans and pots out onto

the streets-laying them out onto the cobbled streets,

or inner courtyards-each and every one engaged in an

immense labor-scouring the huge pots and pans, and

cauldrons-with scalding, steaming water-bending

their backs to their work of cleansing the cookware

for the coming-seven days, and seven nights- the stiff

wire brushes that they’re using, to polish the

gleaming pots into-an even more gleaming order

(Seder) Tonight-Jerusalem- not Jerusalem of

Gold; but gleaming down long streets,

down hidden- winding alleys and cul-

de-sacs…

the shine and early morning song of a-

Jerusalem of brass and copper, shining: Jerusalem of

brass and copper, shining

Golden String

The Tower of Strength/ City of Refuge photo poem s

The Angel of Death…will Passover

under the fig tree

The Tower of Strength/ City of

Refuge photo poem s

Feast of the Un-pursued

You know how much I love you.

It was me personally, who painted on an arc of blood

over your door, so that you would be spared the

death of the first born on this night… The Angel of

Death…will brush your door with her wings in

passing….but my love, will keep you safe…will lead you

out the door, and will set you on your way, onto the path

that you must go…

Take a few deep breaths, and feel me around you, as you

drink

the various glasses of wine tonight.

Take deep breathes and feel me touching you…on the

shoulder… on the forehead.

I am making invisible reminder markings, there in

reminder that you were born to lead…and not to follow.

Golden String

Tower of Strength/

City of Refuge cards

An

Identifying Acrostic

.

.A globed journey through dimensions of time and place……..

.was to be the measured fate of my search of self….

.and it was not to be easy; whether in contemplated rush out of harms

way or….

.nun’s ignorance of grand papa’s circumcising hidden Torah

treasure…

.deemed worthy to be kept safe at all costs-as it was Ben Maimon’s

own…

.ever comforting from the secret hidden behind sweet Rachel’s

bosom…

.racked by torture and rapture each in turn, but saved, safe…

.invested with the knowledge handed down from her forefather’s exiled

heart…

.never losing sight of the eternal light beaming down upon my

countenance…

.grounded and turned to the East, toward Jerusalem

…..Jewel beyond all gems is my belief and my need

….ever lifting my sights and my goals, deeper and higher

….wasted not in an embers glowing soul

Golden String

The Tower of Strength/ City of Refuge photo poem s

In need we are of turning...

In need we are of turning... and in the short, curt, blasting echoes, of the shofar

the day turns, the night turns …the leaf turns, the boat turns (over)… edges turn and show open hands, flat open faces. Endings turn into beginnings…beginnings turn again on themselves…the season turns, the year turns...the wheel turns, the world turns…the man turns, the woman turns…the child turns…and God returns

Your face-is the crown of Solomon

to my

unveiled

Sheba