What the Donkey Saw – A poem for Parsha Chukat-Balak

The word God puts into my mouth-that I will speak.
–Numbers 22:38

Words.
They come out of our mouths
and, lately, out of our fingers.
They float through the air
and travel electronically to
all the places.
They barge into the eyes and ears
of other mammals, intended or
otherwise.
Say what you’re going to say
as if the entire world is listening.
As if every sentence you utter
could eventually be your epitaph.
Say what you’re going to say
as if your words were arms
intended to wrap around
everyone you’ve ever loved.
Are their tents lovely?
They sure are, but how will they
ever know unless you tell them?
Tell them.
Let your words be your money
your business card, your
life-sustaining breath.
Let them keep you warm or cold
depending on the weather.
Build your home with your words.
Keep the big picture in view.
You never know what’s there
that only the donkey can see.

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 27 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 Low Country Shvitz” (Poems written in Georgia and the Carolinas – Ain’t Got No Press, May 2023) 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.