Pesach, 2016 Here is the thing of it when we are in the narrow place squozen by the pressures of our time there is no thought of passing over only wondering how long it will take and what it will cost to pass through and so in the midst of inventing ourselves again and again to accommodate the winds of whatever desert we are dragging our dry bones through we come to the moment in the circle of the year for letting our selves rest awhile at a table brushed clean and set with an empty cup and a plate that tells a story with a roasted bone a knob of raw horseradish an egg and an orange we begin by reclining tasting the salt on our faces nibbling the herbs that will cleanse our senses and pouring the wine that will loosen our tongues as we lean in closer because on this night it is enough to be together telling a story we know so well about the mortar that sets between the bricks of what we allow to oppress us about the deals we finagle to survive about making matzoh on the fly and how it takes a miracle to cross the water pour me another glass of wine please because even when we are lost and wandering in the narrow places we sing our redemption into being
I hope every one who visits this poem takes a moment to appreciate Judy Chicago's amazing seder plate! She made a whole series of them and you can see them all here:
and on top, the wonderful blue photo of a narrow place:
Robert Brands/523704/unsplash