Praying makes me sad
when it feels unnatural
-which is natural

Regarding horses
affection explains itself
Why? Because horses.

- inspired by a recent NPR interview with a woman who loves horses

For years we wore masks
and then the pandemic came
and then we wore masks

1512

Is it hard for you

that your name is a brand name

starting with your dad?

 A role, and so long
Hiding and inhabiting
So long, now, so long.

Why do we stress that
someone grew up in a home
just when they didn't

- Inspired by and adapted from The Pull of the Stars, pg. 138


Every choice I make
seems to bring me new regrets
and that's a choice too

- Inspired by and adapted from The Pull of the Stars, pg. 154


Besides everything
that Corona is, it's a
monkey on my back


Sometimes, promised lands
are best viewed from the tops of
far away mountains

- Inspired by and adapted from a line in Pinny Bulman's poem, "To That End"

Old versus older:
Every second we're older,
so in time we're old.

*

I understand why
we bite the hand that feeds us
- because it's so close.

Facing the music:
Why is that such a bad thing?
Just face it and dance.

Adapted from observation of Billy Collins on his Pandemic Poetry Broadcast on Facebook today.

I'm thinking of you
and thinking of my thinking
of thinking of you

The second hand ticks
steadily, like a soldier
marching into war.

- Found Poetry: A sentence in "The Dinner List," by Rebecca Serle, page 254.

Corona time flies
similarly to old time
fast, fast and slow, slow

Possibilities
live on- If we keep trying
there's endless magic.

Can life and love be 

hard and good rolled into one?

How else could it be?

1497,1498

Time, surrounding me
melting away from friction
and warmth between us

Only recently
did I start hearing the bass
at the base of songs

Life is a thin line
you walk yours and I walk mine

even intertwined

Trauma is when you
can't imagine a future
can't dream or do it

Up late, then work looms
Teaching and guiding through Zoom

All in my home/room

Deal with what you see
not what you expect to see
in poems, in life.

While you're forgetting
all I do is remember
Oh, just forget it.

I seek my power
by pretending to cede it:
submissive control.

Now, there's also an
emotional contagion
- part of the virus.

Sometimes I know and
you don't know how I found out
My trick? You told me.

1488

I can talk too much
When I feel down and needy
And miss my control.

When you can hear thoughts
Words don’t make it that much worse
But they make it worse

There are always tests
from inside and from outside.
Makes me want to hide.

Only breathing is
(maybe) better than writing
both keep me alive.

Not one more poem
I say to myself right now
And then this appears.

Often a stranger
In the middle of the night
I get Billy Joel

Get yourself a friend:
Judge people favorably,
and that includes him
(especially him).

For attendance, I
need you to be present, and
also to be here

I need time outdoors
walking alone does wonders
and G-d is with me

re shach manot

Morah Sue was wrong
your two mishloach manot
can share one bracha

Your Rebbe was wrong
no messenger's needed for
mishloach manot

Such a never mind
It may be time to let go
He thinks, holding on

My generation
Is used to things improving.
Now we’re wondering.

Writing in real time
Why does it feel so unreal,
Like the are no words?

Out of the foxhole
I am not an atheist
but sometimes forget

Happiness is hushed,
it sounds like even keeled breaths,
which is what it is.

Yes, I napped at work
So am I dysfunctional
Or sick and tired.

I’m ten hours in
To a day of work and guilt
And deep exhaustion

Even extroverts
get lonely in their own way
midmost in a crowd

(see f'bk for options)

up to 1476 i think

Sick with high fever
My thinking has been altered
and intensified

Maybe we all want
to speak a holy language
but can't find the words

The emperor’s clothes
are of great concern to me
- wish I could see them.

Dad once said to me
Life is more that just good quotes
I cherish those words

When is the day when
I will act more bravely
and be less afraid?

All that I see goes
In the bags under my eyes
They are for storage

Often I'm doing
thing A and yearn for thing B...
...and then the reverse

Enthusiasm
is something I admire...
...when I feel it's real

Like a small child
and like most adults I know
I put off bedtime.