This poem is taken from PN Review 245, Volume 45 Number 3, January - February 2019.
Three Poems for Stanley Moss
for Stanley Moss, written in English
A Blessing for the New Jewish Year
for Stanley and Jane
Even years have religions
And are either circumcised or baptized
Even years have Paradise and hell
And a Year-god.
In Hebrew we wish a good and sweet year
But we now know that sweet and good
Do not always work well together.
If we were Chinese
We would say ‘Have a sweet and pungent year’,
If we were on a diet
We would say ‘Have a sweet and low year’
But then ‘sweet and low’ is worse
Than sweet and high.
So let’s go back and stay happily
In our low-keyed time
Where prophecies and visions and miracles
...
for Stanley and Jane
Even years have religions
And are either circumcised or baptized
Even years have Paradise and hell
And a Year-god.
In Hebrew we wish a good and sweet year
But we now know that sweet and good
Do not always work well together.
If we were Chinese
We would say ‘Have a sweet and pungent year’,
If we were on a diet
We would say ‘Have a sweet and low year’
But then ‘sweet and low’ is worse
Than sweet and high.
So let’s go back and stay happily
In our low-keyed time
Where prophecies and visions and miracles
...
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