Every year it’s next year
In Jerusalem. A journey,
        A promise, waiting.
We sit cross-legged in a Bedouin
tent, under a roof of billowing silk.
Camels snort, bellow, spit.
        A prayer
At the Wall, men wrapped
in prayer shawls, sway,
their bodies curled, unfurled.
        A note
Tucked into crevices
between cracks.
an ask of an unseen God.
        A seedling
planted in a desert.
bent over, our bodies
move from tree to tree.
        A miracle
Copper skinned
tribes of Abraham
our palms pressed together
we swing from side to side.
        A street vendor
rolls his brown eyes.
Scarved women bicker
over price.
You want or not?
        We want, we want.

Linda Laderman is a Detroit area writer. She is a volunteer docent at the Holocaust Memorial Center where she leads adult groups on discussion tours. Her memoir piece, “Grandmother’s Warning,” was recently published in the summer edition of the Michigan Jewish Historical Society Journal.