The dream is not so simple — learn what is between
your mouth & God’s ear, feel holy when the ark opens,
know the history of suffering, when it will suffice,
how to chant like the sea breaking against rocky shores,
know all about absence, that a good dish is the experience
& the memory of having had it before, that the dream means
getting a nice Jewish doctor, be well read, plant trees in Israel
& see Masada. The dream has endured for thousands of years.
Even as we pray in a language that sounds like sheep & owls,
the dream is always like loose shutters swinging
outside a window, open ajar.
M.E. Silverman is poetry editor at Blue Lyra Review, review editor of Museum of Americana and author of the chapbook “The Breath Before Birds Fly” (ELJ Press, 2013).
