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Jessica Levine Kupferberg

Into the arks

From my son's Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School second grade class, c. 2005. (courtesy)
From my son's Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School second grade class, c. 2005. (courtesy)

In multitudes of landlocked arks
Bright screens burn–
Dazzling diamond windows
Connections across the winds
And the dark.

Listen to the
The brays of boredom
The roars of uncertainty
The squeals of hungry bellies wanting snacks
Again and again.
Huddle close;
Stay apart!
Two by two and seven by seven and each by each
All aboard for a bumpy ride:

Take only your close family with you.

We did not heed the warnings.
We were not ready
For the churn,
The day by day and night by night
Bordered and clockless
Zooming in on
Our anxieties and inadequacies
And maybe
Maybe

Love.

Remember that when the first flood ended,
Waters’ retreat a slow dance back and below,
Elderless–
They didn’t know what they would find when
They opened the door.

Who will be our raven
And then our dove
To tell us when it’s safe again,
And what of our olive branch,
Brittle reed of hope to stick in our beak
After the deluge of alone retreats–

And what will be our rainbow:
A warning or a blessing?

It all depends on us.

About the Author
Jessica Levine Kupferberg is a writer and former litigation attorney. She made aliyah from La Jolla, California with her family during Operation Protective Edge in July 2014 after driving across America. She blogs for the Times of Israel and her work has appeared in the Jerusalem Post, Kveller.com, The Jewish Journal, The Forward, Jweekly, aish.com and as part of Project 929 English, and as part of anthologies about aliyah and Covid-19.
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