Aleph Pattern

In Hebrew, the word women is the word men

with the first letter dropped. Not just any letter

but the first first letter, the aleph of the aleph-bet:

אנשים       anashim—men

The steel band securing the forehead

to the bed is preheated, but cools quickly.

Inside every men is a women

you’ll need to amputate to find.

אלוהים     Elohim—god

Even the god gets tired in our first story.

Adonai has many lids over each eye

and so she pretends to rest

closing one set of eyelids at a time.

Never a Sabbath of visionless sleep.

אבא           aba—father

Do away with the role charged to the first father

and we will all orgasm more freely.

We will bleat like beasts while we come,

our wooly curls matted and frizzy without a single embarrassed shiver.

אני             ani—I/me

Too many of the dead

cry silently in their coffins

grateful for a place they can finally weep alone

but fearful even now to be overheard.

The dirt we are formed from can seem so thin.

אים            iyom—threatening

If the ocean is the first mother

then the lakes are those moments we hear ourselves

threaten our children in our mother’s voice.

Afterward, we absorb the tears into our own waters.

אסור          asoor—forbidden

What’s forbidden is often drawn as a circle.

But every circle, no matter how small

contains another circle within.

The way to escape circumscription is inward.

אפשר         efshar—possible

To say possible is to leave someone out.

No one is possible until everyone is.

On this one truth, never compromise.