10/16/2019 Aleph Pattern by Joshua Sassoon Orol | Poetry Magazine

Aleph Pattern

BY J O S H UA S A S S O O N O R O L

In Hebrew, the word women is the word men

with the first letter dropped. Not just any letter
but the first first letter, the aleph of the aleph-bet:

‫אנשים‬ anashim—men
‫נשים‬ nashim—women

The steel band securing the forehead

to the bed is preheated, but cools quickly.
Inside every men is a women
you’ll need to amputate to find.

‫אלוהים‬ Elohim—god
‫לוהים‬ lohim—to tire

Even the god gets tired in our first story.

Adonai has many lids over each eye
and so she pretends to rest
closing one set of eyelids at a time.
Never a Sabbath of visionless sleep.

‫אבא‬ aba—father
‫בא‬ ba—come

Do away with the role charged to the first father

and we will all orgasm more freely.
We will bleat like beasts while we come,
our wooly curls matted and frizzy without a single embarrassed shiver.

‫אני‬ ani—I/me
‫ני‬ ni—lamentation

Too many of the dead

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10/16/2019 Aleph Pattern by Joshua Sassoon Orol | Poetry Magazine

cry silently in their coffins

grateful for a place they can finally weep alone
but fearful even now to be overheard.
The dirt we are formed from can seem so thin.

‫אים‬ iyom—threatening
‫ימ‬ yam—sea

If the ocean is the first mother

then the lakes are those moments we hear ourselves
threaten our children in our mother’s voice.
Afterward, we absorb the tears into our own waters.

‫אסור‬ asoor—forbidden
‫סור‬ soor—withdraw

What’s forbidden is often drawn as a circle.

But every circle, no matter how small
contains another circle within.
The way to escape circumscription is inward.

‫אפשר‬ efshar—possible
‫פשר‬ pishair—compromise

To say possible is to leave someone out.

No one is possible until everyone is.
On this one truth, never compromise.

Source: Poetry (October 2019)

C O N TA C T U S

N E WS L E T T E R S

PRESS

P R I VA C Y P O L I C Y

POLICIES

TERMS OF USE

P O E T RY M O B I L E A P P

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