Shana Tova one and all!

This new year started very auspiciously with two pieces of happy news.
My family has a handsome new addition in the person of Teagan Beaumont, born Sept. 13 and weighing in at a healthy 9 lbs, 9 oz. After he gets just a bit bigger I hope to post pictures of him wearing some of the things I knitted while we were waiting for him to make his grand entrance.

And I received notice that one of my poems has been accepted for publication in "Poetica." The journal appears three times a year, so it probably won't be in print for a year at least, but meanwhile, here it is:

Friday night
an orchestra of aromas plays from my grandmother’s kitchen
pot roast and onions
carrot and sweet potato tzimmes
simmering in the Dutch oven
sparkling grace notes of cinnamon and ginger.

Four brass candlesticks gleam on the white cloth.
She covers her head with her apron
touches match to candles and beckons the light.
Hands fragrant with yeast and spice
shield her eyes against God’s glory.

Melech ha’olam – King of the world
She is queen of the kitchen.
Ne’er shel shabbos – lights of the Sabbath
She is the beacon that illuminates our paths.

Braided challah nestles in a linen napkin
lechem min ha’aretz – bread from the earth.
Sweet wine glows garnet in heavy stemmed goblets
borai pri ha’goffin – fruit of the vine.

She is the root that grounds us even as we branch away.
We are her fruit.
© Margery Hauser