First Edition features new original works by Northern California Jewish writers. Appearing the first issue of each month, it includes a poem and an excerpt from a novel or short story.
Morning Minyan
by marcia falk
A quorum of small black birds
settles on the birch outside the window:
ten of them, enough to pray
the most sacred prayers.
Whom do they beseech,
for what do they pray
with their too-toos
and dee-dee-dees?
Do they ask for grace?
Cannot be. They already have it.
Do they seek forgiveness? For what?
They cannot help but do what birds do.
Do they need healing?
Perhaps one of them has broken a wing?
Or are they singing praises of the Creator?
Of the creation? Of the many ilks and
varieties of bird?
You would like to stay and find out
but you have no time this morning.
No time no time no time no time
chants our species.
Dit-dit-dit, dit-dit-dit, dit-dit-dit-dit
cry the birds as they fly away.
Marcia Falk is the author of three books of poems and several translations of biblical and modern poetry. “The Days Between” (Brandeis University Press) is the new sequel to her liturgical work, “The Book of Blessings.” The author lives in Berkeley and will talk about her book at 7 p.m. Aug. 18 at Or Shalom Jewish Community, 625 Brotherhood Way, S.F. Free. [email protected]
Works may be submitted to fiction editor Ilana DeBare at [email protected] or poetry editor Joan Gelfand at [email protected]. Fiction excerpts may run up to 2,500 words, but only 800 words will appear in the print edition, with the rest appearing online. All prose and poetry published to date can be viewed at jweeklylit.wordpress.com.