Tales From A Small Closet

Vayechi

וַיִּישֶׂם בָּאָרוֹן בְּמִצְרָיִם
and he was put in a small closet ... Bereshit 50:26

I wrote these two poems a long time ago concerning my experience in a small closet, my closet, in 1967 when I was six years old. These two poems are like children of that experience. Originally published online on my geocities website, I've also published these two poems on my blogs, Walking on Fire and Awenydd. In the experience these poems describe, I was not alone.

EPIPHANY IN THE CLOSET IN 1967

in 1967 I was six and
something happened, in my closet
finding a mouse, dead
in the closet
not afraid of mice, beginning to pick it up, stopped by
its eyes, open
I could not stop looking
I could not stop wondering
at it
it meant something more
beyond what I was
seeing
this mouse
trapped
dead

looking at me
witnessing

what what what what
listening I
could not move
I could not move
all
my
thoughtsvavfeelingsvavquestionsvavanswers
vavmeanings
becoming being
mashing together, collapsing into my gut
then
a silence
cutting the bursting emptiness, when
eternity into a split mo-ment
percolating
then
a rush of
a whirlwind
bursting full
more than I could
ever understanding at once
coming out through my insides
surrounding filling
in the closet
trying
to hold this treasured possession
in my mind of edges
yet then
trusting and letting go
HaELeH going out
such a strange thing was this doing
I was doing
turning inside out
becoming being within
one of infinite place
above without end and below without bound

B'HESECH HADAAT

hey you, what are you looking at
the mouse seemed to say silently, to me one day
hidden in the closet, coming close to see
where land meets sea, isolating some field of awareness
distracting the mind toward some special duty
hey you, what did you say
you talkin' to me?

hey you, what do you hear
the mouse seemed to say silently, to me one day
hidden in the closet, coming close to hear
wandering around this anomaly of conversation, suddenly plucked up
toward the task at hand, wiping off all others
hey you, do you hear what I hear
who goes there, talkin' to me