Spring rites

Judaism, Wntr, 1998 by Sharon Dolin

out of the constricted- into the stark wave of bright fire

air whipping sand into our faces. We got pulled into

the large ear of the sea then out onto a shore of loss so that now we have nothing

but these palms heavy with coriander, honeyed prayers raised to any rough wind

he would have us enter. Who ever thought freedom could feel like bricks

as we wander together inside of days filled with such profuse cloudy light no words come-just

this crepuscular sun with its moody shining- then nights of stray windy fire

until we're awakened by a voice stuttering out blessings

as though they were unscrolling the concealed map.

SHARON DOLIN teaches literature at Cooper Union and creative writing at The New School in New York City. Her first book of poems, Heart Work, was published by the Sheep Meadow Press in 1995 and a letterpress chapbook, Climbing Mount Sinai, was published by Dim Gray Bar Press in 1996.