Awards
- One of six poets selected for Moving Words, 2021. ("Second Born")
- Best in Issue, Poetica: Reflections in Jewish Thought, March 2009. ("Grandpa, Where Did You Get Your Grey Eyes?")
- Finalist, Arlington Reads Poetry Competition, 2006. ("The Shamash Is the Tall One")
- Invited Poet, Joaquin Miller Cabin Reading Series, 2002. (Various poems)
- Invited Poet, Black Buzzard Review Reading Series, 1990. (Various poems)
- Hamilton College John V.A. Weaver Prize in Poetry, 1987. (Various poems)
Second Born
You are the day of short sleeves in March,
the bouquet held behind the back,
the giggling group waiting in the darkened room.
Named only for yourself, you carry
no weight, gliding in the glorious
center of your own moment.
With your sunburst face, you teach
that love is not a cup but a window:
hearts cannot overfill, instead they open
to the infinite we are willing to admit.
The Shamash Is the Tall One
Now is the hour when we turn
darkness to light.
Now is the hour when we assemble
those we love.
Now is the hour when we kindle
memory’s flame.
The shamash is the tall one,
responsible for lighting the rest.
At first, these candles were oil
throwing shadows on stone temple walls.
At first, we were few, fanatics
defying darkness and desecration.
At first, our candles were lit by those who knew,
a necklace of lights stringing the generations.
The shamash is the tall one,
responsible for lighting the rest.
In the tinder of our patchwork nation,
our small celebration has ignited
beyond its birth into a flare
of identity and remembrance.
We who are Jews use blazing menorahs
to find our way in the blinding dazzle of Christmas,
we pump our eight days of dreidl and gelt
like bellows to show we too can offer fuel for December’s joy--
even when we know little else of our own story,
we take out our necklace of lights and dress for winter,
writing new chapters in this young land that is now our home.
The shamash is the tall one,
responsible for lighting the rest.
But even if you have no memories
of beloved elders chanting their guttural holy tongue
while holding the shamash aloft at dusk,
the menorah compels us all to consider
how centuries change stories,
how celebrations reflect as much as preserve,
how we shape consecration of our own rituals.
We can all remember
that it takes only a candle
to light the way for each other,
it takes only a candle
to gather us together,
to set alight the bonfire of memory.
The shamash is the tall one,
responsible for lighting the rest.
Author’s Note: The shamash is the tallest candle in a menorah, used for lighting the rest of the candles each night of the Hanukkah celebration.