HYOIDE BONE KADDISH

by julia kolchinsky dasbach

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My people know how to hold light

in their mouths, how to keep it safe

 

until it fades to whisper or prayer.

Now say: Amen

 

until you can tell the difference.

My people are light and bone

 

and when god opened his mouth

to say: Amen    

 

they must have leapt off his tongue,

unchosen and nameless

 

beyond any blessing and song

 

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A previous version of this poem appeared in Guernica