Two Springtime Poems

by Norman Simms (November 2017)

by Yossi Stern, Title Unknown

Yom Kippur 2017

Another year passes without our knowing when to fast
But not when to feel a deep sense of guilt and shame,
Aware that some time in this season the day will pass
And even if the evening prayer forgets my name
There is no way to stand with others when the blast
Of the ancient horn is blown—no one to blame
For this negligence, this silent blasphemy.
In my mind there is somewhere a chicken’s neck
To twist and cast away misgivings, my
Little crumbs of lost belief, the wreck
Of memories from ancient nights when I
Stood next to my father, listened to the chant
Of a chazzan, felt the warmth of piety,
Unaware that this would be the last
Time we stood together man to man.

 

The Victory of Old Night

____________________
Jews in an Illusion of Paradise; Dust and Ashes, Comedians and Catastrophes, Volume I, and his newest book, Jews in an Illusion of Paradise: Dust and Ashes, Falling Out of Place and Into History, Volume II. Several further manuscripts in the same vein are currently being completed.  Along with Nancy Hartvelt Kobrin, he is preparing a psychohistorical examination of why children terrorists kill children.

More by Norman Simms here.

Please help support New English Review.