from What Stillness Illuminated

 

10.
 
The boys foraged amidst the scrub, remains of the forced march.
 
Something to barter, something to wield. Hiya!
 
The smallest one led the group forward.
 
Only he had seen what had come before.
 
Occasionally he stopped to comfort the others.
 
 
 
 
22.
 
Though only midnight, I had returned.
 
How would I leave?
 
Below a circle of light:
 
Mother’s feet in a bowl, father furrowed above them.
 
Against the window: the white face of the whip driving them together.



 
48.

Towering reeds framed but could not shield the graying beach house.

Its wooden panels were warped by the winds of the north coast.

In the off-season the youth snuck in to escape the draconian village codes.

Disciplined rebels, they never left traces of their interludes of pleasure.  

Only an occasional whisper, a fading footstep led the sea to conjecture.

 

 

 

Yermiyahu Ahron Taub is the author of The Insatiable Psalm (Hershey, Pa.: Wind River Press, 2005; http://www.windriverpress.com/ ). His Yiddish and English language poems, one of which was nominated for the Pushcart Prize, have appeared in numerous publications, including The Adirondack Review, Eclectica Magazine, Five Fingers Review, The Forward, Lily, and Prairie Schooner.  He appears in, edited the English subtitles for the Yiddish dialogue, and received an additional writing credit for Divan (Zeitgeist, 2003; www.palinkapictures.com), a documentary film by Pearl Gluck.  He was recently honored by the Museum of Jewish Heritage as one of New York’s best emerging Jewish artists.  A longtime resident of Brooklyn, N.Y., he currently lives in Washington, D.C.

 
Copyright © 2007 by Yermiyahu Ahron Taub, all rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of U.S. Copyright law, and it may be archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that the editors are notified and no fee is charged for access. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the notification of the journal and consent of the author.