purim

It is a joyous day 

amidst a burdened world.

We cluster around stand mixers like crows

to telephone wire, make holy messes

of flour & floor. There are countless stories

being told.

It is a joyous day. Outside the window, squirrels

play-fight by the bird feeder & scramble up the pole

just to prove they can. In Baltimore someone I know chants Megillah

and tears open the story of a whole people 

yet again, for its renewal. It is a joyous

       day and we go walking

in the bright afternoon, laden with freshly baked hamentaschen.

I run to mailbox after mailbox & deliver poppy-seeded joy.

*Megillah is a part of the Talmud (Jewish book of scholarly debates & discussions about Torah) that talks about the laws and traditions of Purim, a Jewish holiday celebrating Queen Esther's triumph over evil Haman. (That's why we eat hamentaschen, which are little triangular cookies filled with yummy stuff :P)