And God Remembered Sarah
(Genesis 21:1)

Tashlich
in the school’s outdoor fountain,
her sins floating
in a trickle of water.
No river, ocean,
wide-eyed fish
to redeem her misdeeds.

Crossing the street
to the small synagogue,
pomegranate sky
stains her crumbling face.
Fingers   brush   belly
once domed with life.
Sorrow where lint forms
in the soft corners of her dress.

Her laughter—dark,
ardent honey—sticks within.
Pocketing the last crumbs,
she waits for the days to pass.

Notes: Tashlich (Hebrew: תשליך‎, meaning “casting off”) is a long-standing Jewish practice usually performed on the afternoon of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. The previous year’s sins are symbolically “cast off” by throwing pieces of bread, or a similar food item, into a large, natural body of flowing water (such as a river, lake, sea, or ocean).

Miriam Green writes a weekly blog at http://www.thelostkichen.org, featuring anecdotes about her mother’s Alzheimer’s and related recipes. Her blog also appears on the Alzheimer’s Association website, http://blog.alz.org/. Her poetry has been published in several journals, including Poet Lore, The Prose Poem Project, Ilanot Review, The Barefoot Review, and Poetica Magazine. Her poem, “Mercy of a Full Womb,” won the 2014 Jewish Literary Journal’s1st anniversary competition. Her poem, “Questions My Mother Asked, Answers My Father Gave Her,” won the 2013 Reuben Rose Poetry prize. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Bar Ilan University, and a BA from Oberlin College. Miriam is a 20-year resident of Israel, and a mother of three.