« The Best American Poetry 2020: Series Editor David Lehman, Guest Editor Paisley Rekdal | Main | Danusha Lameris Draws an Ace [by Ace Boggess] »
In The New Yorker's summer "flash fiction" series, "Tales Told To Tevye" was posted yesterday. You can read
the three-art story here. Illustration by Ricardo Tomás; Source photograph by Cornell Capa / The LIFE Picture
Collection / Getty. The story is dedicated In memoriam Rabbi Aharon Eliezer Ceitlin, 1953-2015.
As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.
Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.
Your Information
(Name and email address are required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)
Radio
I left it
on when I
left the house
for the pleasure
of coming back
ten hours later
to the greatness
of Teddy Wilson
"After You've Gone"
on the piano
in the corner
of the bedroom
as I enter
in the dark
from New and Selected Poems by David Lehman
Charming set of tales. The Modeh ani, recited by observant Jews on waking before getting out of bed — with its Kabbalist origins — is an interesting and humbling expression of thanks and dependence, and at the same time an expression of a recharged battery ready to tackle the daily tasks and problems. A kind of eternal recurrence that tamps down hubris while empowering one to go forward.
Judaism tends toward a middle way: Ideas/belief/faith alone is insufficient, pace Protestants; works and acts alone are also insufficient, pace Catholics. Instead, a fully engaged praxis, as Marx remembered, one that progresses through sacrifice, like Moses who sacrifices himself so that the rest can go forward.
Posted by: Another DL | August 08, 2020 at 12:33 PM
Thank you for this very thoughtful comment. -- DL
Posted by: The Best American Poetry | August 08, 2020 at 03:24 PM