7 Haiku for Parsha Va’etchanan (in which Moses gets to look but no touch) by Rick Lupert

I
No, Moses, you can
not enter – But check out the
view from this mountain

II
Did I mention we
should follow God’s commandments?
On every page.

III
Setting up cities
of refuge – the non holy
side of the river

IV
A repeat of the
Ten Commandments – Typical
for summer viewing

V
What will the people
do without Moses acting
as emissary

VI
Start with these words – Put
them everywhere – Your doors – your
foreheads – everywhere

VII
Leave no trace of the
Canaanites when you cross the
river – not a speck

Los Angeles poet Rick Lupert created the Poetry Super Highway (an online publication and resource for poets), and hosted the Cobalt Cafe weekly poetry reading for almost 21 years. He’s authored 21 collections of poetry, including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion“, “I’m a Jew, Are You” (Jewish themed poems) and “Feeding Holy Cats” (Poetry written while a staff member on the first Birthright Israel trip), and most recently “Donut Famine” (Rothco Press, December 2016) and edited the anthologies “Ekphrastia Gone Wild”, “A Poet’s Haggadah”, and “The Night Goes on All Night.” He writes the daily web comic “Cat and Banana” with fellow Los Angeles poet Brendan Constantine. He’s widely published and reads his poetry wherever they let him.