Hi Ryfkah,
Part of this poem seems to rest in Jewish tradition - next year in jerusalem
& the wailing wall are Jewish, yet Gesemane, the Via Dolorosa, and The Mount
are Christian. Are you intending your reader to feel that the person in the
poem is comfortable with each faith?
Is the person in the poem waiting for a flight that will take them to
Jerusalem for this year's Passover? If so (and that seems to be why they're
at the Airport) I can't fully work out the significance of the celebratory
recitation of a chanted prayer that says "next year..."
It may just be me, but I feel I'm picking up mixed messages...
And the glyph "LAX" won't unpack itself in my brain! And I keep wanting to
link the poem to what happened on the 4th July this year in the queue at the
El Al desk at Los Angeles... am I right in that interpretation?
Bob

>From: Ryfkah * <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: New Poem: Next Year in Jerusalem
>Date: Thu, 11 Jul 2002 12:36:44 EDT
>
>Next Year in Jerusalem
>
>I read a book
>drowse upright
>
>I'm stuck in LAX
>with dogs sniffing for violence
>Next year in Jerusalem
>our yearly Passover prayer
>I wait for my plane
>The crowds eye one another
>We watch for a gun to flicker
>a knife to swing
>
>The weather over the Midwest
>thunders with storms
>I pace the Via Delorosa
>in my daydreams
>touch a paper prayer
>to a crack in The Wall
>I wail in the Garden of Gesemane
>heaven-ascend on The Mount
>
>I worked three jobs
>saved   The plane
>has alighted   Weary faces
>search me  others
>A man who is stiff
>with resolution sits
>next to me  He wears
>a yarmulke  has payos
>
>He reads a book
>prays for peace
>
>Ryfkah 7/11/02




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