The Oy of Cooking – a poem for Torah Portion Tzav

And this is the law of the guilt offering.
It is a holy of holies.

Guilt is holy.
Such a part of the Jewish DNA
our Book has laws about it
fresh out of Egypt.

Guilt is slaughtered and burned.
There are particulars about guts
to pay attention to.

Guilt is baked in an oven.
The recipe, older than
our knocked down Temples.

Guilt is served in particular vessels.
It is owned by the chef.
Even our teachers and leaders,
even the wisest amongst us
have to eat to live.

Where they eat the guilt is holy.
It is the holiest of holies.
It is so holy, if anyone else touches it
they become holy by association.

Guilt is dashing to your door.
It is going up in smoke.
That is the point. It is going up –
away from you, an offering to
the Toppest of your Chefs.

This is the Oy of Cooking.
This is what always goes
in our mouths.

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.