So Jacob worked for Rachel seven years,
but they appeared to him like a few days
because of his love for her.
Genesis 29:20
I first knew about love when I was
thirteen years old, in junior high school
which was kind to me in no other way.
I don’t want to deceive you
It’s not that I had love, I just knew
I wanted it.
Most of my first interactions with others
begin with could I love this individual
My behavior informed by the answer.
So in 2002 when I found a two-way yes
in the wilds of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
I was ready to do the work.
And those six months of labor
before we occupied the same time zone
could easily have been seven years.
Along the way, questions were asked
answers were given, rooms were filled
with sunflowers and strawberries
and, eventually, the Rachel to my Jacob
took up space in our permanent residence.
Had I lifted the veil and discovered
a deception had been made, like Jacob,
I would have done it all over again.
There is no amount of years
I wouldn’t labor to set up in this tent
to be with her – No field I wouldn’t till
No sheep I wouldn’t…whatever it is
they do with sheep. Forever is a word
that needs no context. I am the wrestler
she has me pinned.
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 25 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 “The Tokyo-Van Nuys Express” (Poems written in Japan – Ain’t Got No Press, August 2020) 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.
