I was at a poetry reading last night organized by the great people at Jerusalism.  It was a nice sized crowd with a lot of ‘earworthy’ poetry and prose. Someone asked me for a copy of one of the poems I read so I decided to turn it into a blog and share it with the world. Here it is.

 

What Happened When I Realized My Date Was A Woman

I walked with you yesterday through the park.

A kaleidoscope of sensations travelling through my being.

I didn’t know till afterwards that you were a woman.

It was only this morning when I was playing my guitar 

that I remembered the senses I was numb to.

Your hair, your face, your form.

I know these are not who you are.

That is why when we walked yesterday

I stayed so intellectual

But I see there is a part of me that has hands

and a face, and form, a man.

Who does not want to go through his life alone

and wonders what he could feel in the space in between us.

The we space. I don’t just want my life to be me space.

You space. Touch space. Feel space. Closeness space.

And yet unknowns surround me which means

You are a question I may never know the answer to and that is OK too.

Because the sun will still shine and I know that I am not alone. 

–

This poem is really just the tip of the iceberg of a much bigger topic wish is Jewish sacred masculinity.

I’m curious. If you’ve made it this far, what are your thoughts?