Poetry & Fiction
Poetry
A Brief History of the Number Two
An online-only poem from Tikkun‘s web magazine.
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Fiction
Feral
Climbing the tree had not been a thoughtless or impetuous action. The girl had taken a Jew’s harp, a handful of dried cranberries, a scrap of blue leather, feathers, a vial of silver and turquoise beads, a needle, some thread, other secret objects, some sacred, all carefully balanced in the lap of an oversized T-shirt that the girl turned alternately into a desk, a knapsack, a handkerchief for blowing her nose, while another T-shirt became a bandanna, a snood, and a white banner that declared most adamantly: “I will not surrender.”
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Fiction
The False Bride
Outside of Simon’s office, the hum of angels’ wings moved the air like an evening breeze. The pair, one young and one old — ageless really — but one wise, one unknowing, innocent, rested on the air and waited.
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Poetry
C.K. Williams Receives the Tikkun Award
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet C.K. Williams reads “Tar” and “The Day Continues Lovely.”
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Fiction
Tales of Morality and Meaning in an Age of Global Warming
Some years ago I met a man who, over a single cup of ginger-mint tea, shook my deepest assumptions about the process of moral conversation. His name was Samuel Prana.
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Humor
Heaven’s Snake
“Is the cornsnake Jewish?” This was a tough question to answer. I was visiting with the first-grade class taught by my then-girlfriend, who had introduced me to her students as “Farmer Josh” — and then thrust a large-ish cornsnake into my less-than-willing hands.
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Humor
Culture Klatch
My son’s middle school was having a “culture fair” recently, so he asked me for some guidance. His task was to create a display that described his Jewish heritage.
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Humor
Fasting for Tom Zipper
I sent a text to my rabbi, asking whether I would have to give up coffee for Yom Kippur — but my cell phone “corrected” my message, assuming that “Yom Kippur” was my typo-laden attempt to thumb-type “Tom Zipper.” My rabbi texted me back, asking (reasonably enough) why this Tom Zipper fellow would want me to give up coffee.
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Poetry
Rilke’s America
Tell us, poet, what you do—I praise / Only, instead, the grave rasp of Kohelet / praising the dead, which are already dead / more than the living, which are yet alive.
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Humor
How to Have a Civil Conversation About Israel
1. Give up. 2. Devote a large portion of your life to avoiding the subject. 3. Respond to a mid-life crisis by seeking comfort in tradition while at the same time avoiding the constraints of religious practice…
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