DAY 28: MAGNETIC NORTH


The beacon at the mountaintop
sending in perpetuity:

the original number station, though
these numbers made up words once,

from "when God was beginning"
to "in the sight of all Israel."

But the letters are still streaming,
the fountain unstoppable.

What's the broadcast now?
Be kinder to each other.

A perennial Let there be:
from quarks to the whorl of galaxies.

I keep tuning my dial, listening
through the static

for the tug toward Sinai, step
after uncertain step.

Today is the 28th day of the Omer, making four weeks of the Omer. This is the 28th day of our 49-day journey from Pesach to Shavuot, liberation to revelation.

Today's poem took its form from one of Luisa A. Igloria's prompts from last year. She asked, "What is your magnetic north? Write a poem in which you describe it; also describe how it feels to write/work your way toward (or away from) it." This is what arose.

The two phrases in quotation marks are the beginning and end of the Torah, respectively.

If you're unfamiliar with numbers stations, here's a good introduction. (Bear in mind that Hebrew letters double as numbers.)