Prompts 6/4/10

1) If you EVER ask, "I don't need the microphone, do I?" then you DO!\

2) The apotheosis of defeat
the destiny defined by sorrow
watch all the minions, walking
in my tracks untrodden
see the tall guy's voice -
you can't hear it;
vibrato but no sound
water with no moisture
it rains but changes nought
of the cracked moonscape
that doesn't even cognosce
its soul in peril.

3) I can't bear this
solipsism or cynicism
vanity, vanity, all is vanity!
R'difat ruach - chasing after wind

4) VILE BASTARD WHO DARE LOOK
WITH ANGRY EYES
while my powerful heldentenor
improve with age though rendered uncommercial
I sing the sorrow of the dues I haven't paid

5) A THOUSAND YIDDISH CURSES
to take away the miserable
folds of flesh you wear like plastic diamonds
in your mica throat
have you more right to your breath than i
how dare i share
the are you breathe
devoid of oxygen for prayer

6) and that same man who
ripped the song from my own palate
has ripped the prayer from these pages
turning pain and passion
into pabulum.
there is another cantor sitting here who...

7) Mchayei kol chai -
what if you're already dead?

8) No hard feelings
people walk through me all the time
what import is it whether i had
something to say or not
i had nothing

9) no hard feelings
they really don't want me here
they're just allowing me
until i pay my dues
then silence

falling into emptiness i
take notes on my way
so if i eveer have the fortune
that someone other than my children my mom
will know i soiled their earth

10) cycles of life

they don't need me here
unless i'm reading Torah
never torah small t for teacher
because i have nothing to offer

unless i pay dues
which i don't because
the world doesn't need me

unless i pay lots of taxes
which i don't because
no boss needs me

unless i utter some special incantation
which i don't because
without a pulpit i have no prayer

without a prayer i have no voice
without a voice i have no soul
with out a soul i am (add word art in circle:)
a cantor without a pulpit without a prayer without a voice

rendered soulless by forces of extraction
less subtle than a dental vise

11) There is another cantor in this place who_________

Dreams of Blood and Maggots

hello Serena
feeding remembered
only you care
purring echoes off close-in walls
round table morphs to irregular
polygon of papers homeless items.
Meds among themaybe

dreams of blood and maggots
cat food isn't kosher
Nor the mouse you laid on my pillow
but Thank You, Hero Cat
ramen noodles cereal safe once more

scraps scream ignored from indoor-outdoor carpet
milk spills on kitchen floor
this poem is written bills unpaid
mop stands like advice ignored

The Value of a Marriage

We hovered over the change dish
Cash-4-Gold pouch in my right hand
His jet black hair thrusts upward in my left
Resting the envelope ready
I lift the shiny band
My sigh weighs twelve years

He asked me what is that Daddy
My wedding ring
What does it say
"Dimitikh ra'ayati," My love, I dreamed of you
What are you gonna do with it
I think I'm gonna sell it

His doe eyes moistened
His plea heard not said
You won't lose it I could use the money for the rent
No Daddy never
The rent was late
He keeps the ring under his pillow