by Claudine Nash (New York, NY)
once I was standing
at the foot of the mountain
with every Jewish soul
who ever lived,
with whoever touched
the words of Torah
with silver yad
or daily deed,
because
no matter my age,
everyday
can be Shavuot,
everyday a re-receiving,
a re-reading of the world
through an ethical lens,
everyday
a new connection
to the Eternal,
to generations lost
and present,
to an ancient and
enduring chain
to which I am
a part.
Claudine Nash is an award-winning poet who lives and writes in New York. She has authored five poetry collections, most notably Beginner’s Guide to Loss in the Multiverse (Blue Light Press, 2020) which won the 2020 Blue Light Book Award. She has also edited three poetry collections and is a practicing psychologist. Widely published, her work has been nominated for the Pulitzer, Pushcart and Best of the Net prizes and briefly travelled through space as part of the Writers on the Moon time capsule of contemporary writing.
This is beautiful.