A Literary Magazine in Support of the Jewish Community
L'Chaim
This universe is memoir after memoir
of dark energy. When I pray
I read the psalms all the way through
without stopping, to hear the heart
pulse, the full tongue of each
word, which is how I wish
I could travel through my body:
whorl & hush of the blood ark—
Crushed ovaries, rush
of intrusive thoughts, hidden
sins bursting like cysts. My cup
runneth over. Yet this
black hole mouth craves
flesh: to lick it, to tear it, to eat it—
To be fruitful & multiply, I birth
space, divide cells, indefinitely.
Raise a glass—
Barbara Schwartz
Barbara Schwartz is the author of three books of poetry: a chapbook, Any Thriving Root (dancing girl press, 2017), the collaborative collection, Nothing But Light (Circling Rivers, 2022), and the hybrid memoir in verse, What Survives is the Fire, forthcoming from Alternating Current Press.
