Chaim Soutine’s Chanukah
Chaim Soutine’s Chanukah
Original Text
Wayne Clifford. The Dark Season. Emeryville, Ontario: Biblioasis, 2012.
1Why should stars shine more real than lights
2at crossroads? There a Christian housewife fed
3me soup and biscuit; gave for this leaf-lee bed
4her dog’s blanket, and told her dog such rights
5as Jew might have in nearby woods. Tonight’s
6a clear cold. There’s a lamp my mother said
7burned eight nights, a miracle. I have instead
8this star, hard as white-fired gem, invites
9my fingers pluck it from its this once dark.
10I have this bed encircles to a park
11in which I’ll dream dogs, dark dogs as pack
12who’ll rip my innards till I’m shitting black.
13From such a birthright, decimated, I’m
14this singled man hid marking unblessed time.
RPO poem Editors
Jim Johnstone
RPO Edition
2013
Form
Special Copyright
Poem used with permission of the author.