Greeting

by Carol Grannick (Evanston, IL)

How could I have known on the night I began

tilting then circling my hands in front of my eyes 

pulling in light like a warm breeze at twenty below

welcoming Shabbat in with the light for the first time 

with gifts of candles, prayer, song, bread, wine

and my wondering, wandering self peeking 

as an explorer into something new undiscovered 

and yet there for generations before me 

Others knew the right place to go, where

to seek light and they guaranteed it was there

Trusting in this, I placed the candles just so

turned in prayer and welcomed Shabbat

and surprising me like a sudden embrace

she reached her arms out as if she 

had waited patiently, lovingly all these years

ancient and new, unmoved by my disregard. 

Carol Coven Grannick is a poet and children’s author whose middle grade novel in verse, REENI’S TURN (check out the wonderful trailer from Filmelodic and nice reviews!), debuted from Regal House Publishing in 2020. Her poetry for adults has appeared in Writing in a Woman’s Voice, Jewish Writing Project, NI+ Holocaust Memorial Issue, Bloom, Bluebird Word, Ground, The Birmingham Arts Journal, Capsule Stories, West Texas Review, Silver Birch Press, The Lake, and more. Her children’s fiction and poetry appeared/is forthcoming in Cricket, Ladybug, Babybug, Highlights, Hello, Paddler, and The Dirigible Balloon. There is rarely a day when she does not write in order to hold on to the treasure and meaning of being alive in this world.