Joel Grishaver: Divine Tivo
rosh hashanah 5767
[Rosh HaShanah is the Jewish New Year.]
ester is dead
the earth is cold
grass is growing
God resets the Divine Tivo
there is a new fall schedule to record
new programs
new slots
new versions of the same nine stories
that play out
hour by hour
week by week
episode by episode
i am hours away from the fast
hours from asking "who shall live and who shall die"
hours from listing sins
and hoping to reboot my life
into a better schedule
in the same way i lie on my water-bed
and play back last week's programs on my Tivo
i sit here and play back images from my life
i highlight moments
and hope to finally click erase on others
i have a day of work ahead
programming my fall season
setting the series to record
and cleaning my hard drive
ester is dead
her smile when she sang recycles
the warmth of her hugs are still there
and i cry
God too
is making decisions
about what to record
what to ignore
The fall season is filled with new friends
new stories
new values
and new choices
i am the boss of my Tivo
i click on and off
i decide record and delete
set the number of shows to retain
would that my soul was that easy to program
would that i had a remote to pick and choose one button at a time
the actions and feels that will guide me
but television is always easier than life
cause there stories begin and end
and break for sponsors
while life oozes
the fast is coming
it will go slow
i have much to review this year
ester did that for me
making it a year filled with questions and work
and hope
all this will be guided by the memory of her smile when she sang
i will make my choices
still warmed by the memory of her hug
she having taught me
that choices matter
i will remember that
as i stand before life and death later today
and choose my programs.
shanah matok maror
Gris
: "Just as face answers face in a reflection in water,
so should one person's heart answer another" (Proverbs 27:19).
[One of the Hebrew greetings for the Jewish New Year means 'A good and sweet year'. The last line of Gris' poem means 'A sweet bitter year'.]
[Rosh HaShanah is the Jewish New Year.]
ester is dead
the earth is cold
grass is growing
God resets the Divine Tivo
there is a new fall schedule to record
new programs
new slots
new versions of the same nine stories
that play out
hour by hour
week by week
episode by episode
i am hours away from the fast
hours from asking "who shall live and who shall die"
hours from listing sins
and hoping to reboot my life
into a better schedule
in the same way i lie on my water-bed
and play back last week's programs on my Tivo
i sit here and play back images from my life
i highlight moments
and hope to finally click erase on others
i have a day of work ahead
programming my fall season
setting the series to record
and cleaning my hard drive
ester is dead
her smile when she sang recycles
the warmth of her hugs are still there
and i cry
God too
is making decisions
about what to record
what to ignore
The fall season is filled with new friends
new stories
new values
and new choices
i am the boss of my Tivo
i click on and off
i decide record and delete
set the number of shows to retain
would that my soul was that easy to program
would that i had a remote to pick and choose one button at a time
the actions and feels that will guide me
but television is always easier than life
cause there stories begin and end
and break for sponsors
while life oozes
the fast is coming
it will go slow
i have much to review this year
ester did that for me
making it a year filled with questions and work
and hope
all this will be guided by the memory of her smile when she sang
i will make my choices
still warmed by the memory of her hug
she having taught me
that choices matter
i will remember that
as i stand before life and death later today
and choose my programs.
shanah matok maror
Gris
: "Just as face answers face in a reflection in water,
so should one person's heart answer another" (Proverbs 27:19).
[One of the Hebrew greetings for the Jewish New Year means 'A good and sweet year'. The last line of Gris' poem means 'A sweet bitter year'.]
posted by Ester memories at 12:05 pm
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