Fatherly Advice – A poem for Parsha Vayechi

Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather and I will
tell you what will happen to you at the end of days.
–Genesis 49:1

We’ll say anything on our death beds
Tell all the truths they didn’t want to hear.
Jacob has words for his sons –

Reuben has the restlessness of water
so make sure there are towels for him
in the final document.

Simeon and Levi are only successful
because they stole the tools that
let them do their job.

Judah will stand above the other eleven
because he knows what to do with his
hands and his enemies’ necks.

Zebulon will hang out by the ocean.
It is his way. Perhaps he has an
extra towel for Reuben.

Issachar is a bony donkey.
Holy God, how does one say that
to one’s own son?

Couldn’t Jacob have told him
to have a sandwich? He could’ve
invented the Jewish mother right here.

Dan, the avenger (before they were
in movies) is a snake in the road.
I hear he bites. Mind the horses.

I think about Jacob’s final words
to his sons every time I open my mouth
to say anything to mine.

Hopefully I’m not on my death poem
and all the phrases that pass my lips
serve as a foundation for his legs.

He should stand taller than I ever was.
My little bony donkey.
My greatest invention.

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.