Backbone > Poetica
edited by Franci Levine Grater

The Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, teaches that if once in your lifetime you gave a thirsty person a glass of water, that is reason enough to dance for 70 years. As winter settles in around us, let’s all sate our neighbor’s thirst and dance together.

—Franci

I have decided
   to stop making wishes
      on eyelashes
         because they have already failed,
            as they cling to my cheek
               in dreadful fear
                  of falling any further.

—Anne Byrer

every voice of peace
should give us cause to hope
for she with dark skin is your sister
as he with turban is your brother
the woman getting beaten is your mother
the starving child in third world country is your son

are we not all connected by the same blood and bones
like a universal umbilical cord
we feed, we need, we bleed,
we are one
but why so blinded
do we mistrust
mistreat
repeat
the same old mistakes

over land
over oil
over god
over easy

we must try harder
to love
to respect
to tolerate

as every voice of peace
should give us cause to hope

—R. Ferrusi

along the riverbank
swirling shadows become
stories of fishermen

—Ryan Thornsberry

Caged in the Web of Oblivion

Inspiration, oh let me be with you
Sadness, I file for divorce
Indecision, you are a blind guide
Stay away, I shall wade through this troubled sea alone
now

Be I maimed or failed, God in my heart—be my solace
Unrelenting I’ll grope until I find
It’s the twilight of my life
This day is seldom warm—joy so brief

I make uncertain money that goes fast
Tomorrow’s bread resting in the dreaded hands of fate
Is this me?
Where should my ideas be?
Ideas crying to be financed
But visited only to be caressed

Oh heavenly host, hear this voice that is fast mute
becoming
Before it shuts up below a grave stone
Above which it is still caged in the web of oblivion

—Chimaobi Philips