A Literary Magazine in Support of the Jewish Community
Noise on the Ark, Day 27
Who could sleep with all this chatter?
The bleating and mooing at every hour.
Add to that the continuous crush of waves and rain,
no system in place to buffer a cacophony of babble.
No asylum for me to escape wailing children,
while wives and husbands pose one constant question—
When will this raucous journey end?
Drowning
I hold water inside my body
leftover from the great flood.
There is never enough room
on the ark or rescue boat.
Sometimes God decides who
gets to live and who will drown.
Sometimes I wake up sputtering
black water from my lungs.
It will take an entire life time
to rid this body of my own drowning
and to come to terms with the dead
I still see at the bottom of that ancient sea.
Maureen Sherbondy
Maureen Sherbondy’s forthcoming book is The Body Remembers (Unsolicited Press, 2025). Her work has appeared in European Judaism, Zeek, Calyx, New York Quarterly, and other journals. Maureen lives in Durham, NC. You can find out more at www.maureensherbondy.com.
