I. Manasseh’s father

“God has made me forget my toil, and all my father’s house.”

-Yossef ben Yaakov

Under an Egyptian sky
where bakers’ heads are sold for bread,
a brother plucks homelessness
from family stems
and shepherds’ chimeras
glimmering amongst slaves
where lost destiny blooms out of coal
and when he finds it,
names his son Manasseh.

II. Before Samuel

“My heart exults in Adonai.”

-Hannah

Outside her window,
they offer sticks and stones
and mocking cups of tea.
She gathers tears in a basket
lined with prayer,
calls forth kings.

Kae Bucher, who typically relies on her right hand, aspires to learn how to transcribe the aleph bet with her left. Her poetry appears in Awakened Voices Magazine and The Rappahannock Review and is slated for publication in Seventh Wave Magazine. Kae’s first short story, “The Lost Names of Kaesong,” will appear in the forthcoming edition of California’s Emerging Writers. You can read more of her work on her personal blog, www.bucketsonabarefootbeach.com.