The Interrogative

In a dream, Moses confessesto me that “Everything God saysis a lie,” to which God respondsthrough a porthole of lightin the clouds, “What he says is true.”The paradox thrashes like a flightlessbird in my mouth.All I can say is there is a lessonto be learned from my dog still quivering with sleep on the kitchen floor—He does not question the colorof sunset or perennial ryegrass,nor does…

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The Whole Mishpocha

The kippah clipped to my hairnags like a tag. I don’t come to daven or lean into the ligature of lamedlike a shepherd’s crook,or wrap myself in the birthday-cake blue and white of communal tallit. I don’t come for the finale,either, the last Oseh Shalom,just to say I showed up,shook hands with the Sabbath bride. I come for the faces. En-face or three-quarter profilesof heads, some balding…

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My Mother in Menopause

Her skin seeps like soup.It’s not a perfect Revlon match,Oils jumping toward the waiterFor a glass of water and the entréeHasn’t even arrived to save her.Do you remember your mum’sFirst sweat at fifty, like a tableclothWas being ripped from her shouldersAnd she could not scream,And she was stiller than a smokingChimney? The secret betweenMothers and daughters is thatWe are the same in too many ways,No…

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Peek-A-Boo Enterprises

Job description: Individual needed for adult baby-themed store where clients can purchase adult-sized diapers, bibs, pacifiers, and other products, as well as purchase special-themed events. Duties include, but are not limited to, feeding, burping, playing with adult-aged clients. Hourly rate + bonus. Management reserves the right to make changes as needed without prior notice. Employees will not be asked to perform duties of a sexual…

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