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II. Elements of Wonder 

 
elements of wonder
 
in the beginning
it was all here:
air
earth
fire
water 
vegetable
animal
mineral
(even then
plutonium, uranium,
for better or worse)
 
wool, bone,
skin, stone,
straw for bricks.
 
plastic, nylon, silicon chips
resident but not evident,
 
and we, ones who speak,
transform, invent, create
wonders from wonders
                                            —I. Batsheva
 
 

footnotes   

                                           

therein lie the details:

unspoken secrets,

whispered asides

that illumine meaning

 

light in the vessel

seed of the reason

heart of the enigma

 

and life's footnotes?

unsaid

unwritten

unbelievable

 

wherein does truth lie?

                                           —I. Batsheva

 

 *

 

FOUR SIGHTED

 If for real were four dimensions,
Would we ever know?
Limited’s our comprehension
To the status quo.
 
Up and down, from side to side,
We readily perceive.
Einstein claimed the fourth is time –
How many so believe?
 
H.G. Wells conceived a way
To future and to past.
Likewise Star Trek in its day
Through anti-matter blast.
 
Mainstream physics must depend
On holes, both white and black.
Constructs based on math pretend
Abstractions like are fact.
 
Couched as science, concepts such
Are sanctioned void of proof.
But one wonders, do these touch
On more of faith than truth? 

 

                                                           —Ray Gallucci
*

GEOMETRY

 

                           "Teach me Your way, O Lord …" (Psalm 27:11)

               

Can triangles imagine or conceive

     A cone?  Can circles understand a sphere

     Or contours of a globe?  And can a square

Attempt to comprehend a cube?  Lines weave

Flat worlds of two dimensions to achieve

     Some width and length, but cannot grasp the air

     Of heaven.  Lacking means to see or hear

A third dimension, hexagons believe.

 

O Lord of depth, do I believe?  I fear

     My faith is shallow, God; I sleep inside

          A cave like hibernating bears that sleep

Throughout the whitest winter, unaware

     Each snowflake is unique.  How long and wide

          Your snowfalls are, how fathomless and deep.

                                                                                                            --Yakov Azriel

* 

SOME LAST QUESTIONS

 

What is the desert?

 

An expanse stretching from beyond corners;

a place of freedom for body, for mind.

 

What is its silence?

 

                The breath of God,

the echoes of a billion years.

 

What are the bones?

 

Of skeletons whose flesh

fell away a thousand years ago.

 

No—what are the bones?

 

Animals that larger animals ate,

animals that died of starvation or thirst.

 

What is the moon?

 

                A waxing silver plate,

                puller of tides.

 

And the child?

 

                Mother to the woman,

                teacher of her parents,

                her grandparents’ crown.

 

And God?

 

I can only tell you what He is not.

                                                          —Ruth Fogelman

 

*

 

from The Hannah Senesh Set

KINDNESS IN YIELDING                       (Pesach sheni)

 

At first, it is a second chance,

            a first chance: not a duplication,

                        though each second seconds again,

                                    meiosis not mitosis. You see I’m studying

                                                how things grow, how days adhere together

                                                            into a path, a membrane for the chick—

                                                            I’m studying poultry—the egg and feather girl!—

                                                I can; something—what? don’t remind me

                                    of before; this is not the place

                        I was. I am new, here. I am always

            starting—each step in the land redeems

the end, counteracts chance, is first.

                                                                           -- Courtney Druz

 

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