Ariga: Poetry: March 18, 2003: Two Poems by by Alicia Ostriker

Poetry || Submissions

Two Poems by by Alicia Ostriker
The rabbi said to his son:
I will give you ten gold coins
If you can tell me where God is
The boy answered:
I will give you twenty
If you can tell me where he is not

And so it follows:
If blood stains the earth
It is God's blood,
Is it not?

******

Yet those who believe you chose them
break the bones of the unchosen
And those who trust in your righteousness
study death's secret handshake
And those who remember you promised them the land
sow it with corpses
And those who await messiah
dream of apocalypse
in which their enemies burn--
I speak of all your countries, my dear God.

Poetry || Submissions

TWO POEMS
by Alicia Ostriker

The rabbi said to his son:
I will give you ten gold coins
If you can tell me where God is
The boy answered:
I will give you twenty
If you can tell me where he is not

And so it follows:
If blood stains the earth
It is God's blood,
Is it not?

******

Yet those who believe you chose them
break the bones of the unchosen
And those who trust in your righteousness
study death's secret handshake
And those who remember you promised them the land
sow it with corpses
And those who await messiah
dream of apocalypse
in which their enemies burn--
I speak of all your countries, my dear God.

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