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Poem: Jewish Dream #18

The dream is not so simple — learn what is between your mouth & God’s ear...
[additional-authors]
July 23, 2014

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).

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