Thoughts on Being Judged – a poem for Torah Portion Yitro

It came about on the next day that Moses
sat down to judge the people

Already I don’t like
the sound of this.

Was attendance at the judging
mandatory?

Did Moses’ father-in-law really
judge him about being a judger?

Was there a consolation prize if
the judging didn’t go your way?

Did the people in second and third place
get record contracts anyway?

If I built a glass house would you
be impressed with my transparency
or ask me to put up curtains?

We’ve only just crossed the sea.
How are there already so many
conflicts to judge?

If we take Jethro’s suggestions
big government starts right here.

Being judged at all times is a lot of pressure
to always be on our best behavior.

Seriously, our feet are still wet.
Couldn’t we let the sound of the timbrel,
ring a little longer?

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 23 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 “Hunka Hunka Howdee!” (Poems written in Memphis, Nashville, and Louisville – Ain’t Got No Press, May 2019) 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.