Leslie Grollman

Forgive Us
(for Ariel and Kfir Bibas)

Forgive us our lack of cape and magic

Forgive us our lack of fairy dust, spells and broomsticks to whisk-away

Forgive us our lack of might, what might could have rescued

Forgive us our lack of superpower vision to see where you were

Forgive us our technological infantilism, our Transporter is still a daydream

Forgive us our names and slowness
our hope and naiveté

Forgive us our loving you so much

Forgive us our cold legs and short breath

Forgive us our words, they weren’t strong enough or strong, yes
but perhaps not beautiful enough
to create awe in those who held you,
so they might have breathed
mercy

Tribute to the Hostages, Deanna Feinstein, Colored Pencil and Tan Paper

Deanna Feinstein is a Jewish artist and poet from the East Coast. She is glad to be part of this journal. She hopes this piece brings solace to her people and their allies.

Sonya Schneider

This Is a Wintry Place

(for Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas)

Everywhere, burials:
the fir trees’ knuckled roots,
twin train tracks stiff as spines,
this lake left eleven thousand years
ago in the depression between deposits,
everything under one blanket, giving
the illusion of order –

Across the ocean, two boys’ bodies
in a black casket descend
into a father’s memory, as he buries
them with their mother –
desert earth breaking their fall.
Guard me so I don’t sink into darkness, he cries.
Even this pure snow will melt.