Satyrs are Real and other Haiku

And he shall effect atonement upon the Holy of Holies

No-one wants to think
about Yom Kippur in the
middle of a plague.

Azazel – fallen
angel – We’re bringing goats to
wherever he fell.

Your clothes are not off
the hook if you sin. Cleanse them
along with your flesh.

Why wait until the
seventh month to afflict your-
self – If not now, when?

The word slaughter is
used more times than I prefer
in aliyah two.

For God’s sake, if you
slaughter an ox anywhere
bring it to the priests.

No more sacrifice
to the satyrs. But now
we know they are real.

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.