A Literary Magazine in Support of the Jewish Community
Avram
He knows
in the sooty caverns below Liege
for some the world delivers
an aria of fresh bread—
first coarse salt of course
and yes charred caraway
but then a glutinous comfort
Damn if any
stubborn bituminous
or unruly foreman
should stand in the way
A Polish Jew
he had always wondered
what it was like
to crack the vicious crust
and find a forgiving center
Now in the Belgian mines
having digested his many dinner loaves
and yeasty influenzas
he can only hope
hard labor will suffice
his toothy smile already filled
with the dust
of million-year-old coal
Jeff Schiff
Jeff Schiff is the author of That hum to go by (MAMMOTH books, 2012), Mixed Diction (MAMMOTH books, 2009), Burro Heart (MAMMOTH books, 2004), Rats of Patzcuaro (Poetry Link, 2003), The Homily of Infinitude (Pennsylvania English, 1999), and Anywhere in this Country (MAMMOTH Press, 1981). Hundreds of his poems, essays, and photographs have appeared in more than a hundred and fifty publications worldwide, including The Alembic, Bellingham Review, Cincinnati Review, Grand Street, Ohio Review, Poet & Critic, Tulane Review, Tampa Review, Louisville Review, Tendril, Pembroke Magazine, Carolina Review, Chicago Review, Hawaii Review, Southern Humanities Review, River City, Indiana Review, Willow Springs, and Southwest Review. He has been a member of the faculty at Columbia College Chicago since 1987.
