Vayakhel
I
An all staff meeting.
Building instructions given.
Not on Saturday.
II
This tabernacle
funded by all the people.
The first Kickstarter.
III
A miracle! This
over-funded project is
with the artists now.
IV
Here in the dream lab
curtains are connected and
loops of wool appear.
V
Planks and sockets and
cubits. This is what it takes
to build a Mishkan.
VI
The holiness is
in the details. A golden
Menorah appears.
VII
Who doesn’t love to
see a project completed.
Now, the inspectors.
Pekudei
I
Let’s name all our kids
Bezalel, so that they may
become artists too.
II
Priests looking for the
latest accessories – look
no further: ephod.
III
Pomegranates and
bells. Twisted blue. This runway
will be off the hook.
IV
Laying out the wares
Moses gives them a blessing
for a job well done.
V
With all the pieces
the Mishkan is almost here.
Assembly required.
VI
Like a complex set
of Ikea instructions
Moses builds it all.
VII
A cloud comes. Not one
of gloom and rain. This is the
cloud that strengthens us.
Los Angeles poet Rick Lupert created a 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 20 collections of poetry, including “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.
