JOIN OUR GLOBAL COMMUNITY OF READERS NOW! AUTUMN/WINTER 2020 !e word "tiferet" means heart, compassion, and reconciliation of opposites. Vital traits to nurture in today's divisive world. We look forward to welcoming you into our global community of readers and 2020 Autumn/Winter writers working to foster peace and allow long-silent voices to be heard. If you are not already a subscriber, please visit www.tiferetjournal.com to subscribe or to listen to the free Tiferet Talk author interviews we have archived and continue to run. Past contributors include Ilan Stavans, Jean Houston, Stephen Dunn, Yahia Lababidi, Alicia Ostriker, Robert Pinsky, Linh Dinh, Ed Hirsch, Steffen Horstmann, Nahid Rachlin, Jane Hirshfield, and so many more. Pulitzer Prize winners to newcomers. Writers of different faiths, races, genders . all unique voices in our shared, cross-cultural humanity. Remember, too, that a subscription to Tiferet Journal is a meaningful gift. 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Printed in the United States of America ISSN: 1547-2906 ISBN: 978-1-7348940-2-8 SPRING/SUMMER 2020 FOUNDER & PUBLISHER Donna Baier Stein EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Donna Baier Stein MANAGING EDITOR Lisa Sawyer POETRY EDITOR Adele Kenny SUBMISSIONS EDITOR Pamela Walker ASSOCIATE EDITORS Jane Ebihara CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Nancy Lubarsky Priscilla Orr Bob Rosenbloom DESIGNERS & ILLUSTRATORS Donna Schmitt Monica Gurevich-Importico STAFF INTERNS Anu Mahadev Mariel Zena Matthew Green Natalie Hirt COVER ART "Sounds of Heaven" by Orna Ben-Shoshan FEATURED COVER ARTIST: ORNA BEN-SHOSHAN "Alternative Realities lie parallel to the world we are familiar with..." Orna Ben-Shoshan' s artwork gives the viewer a rare and insightful visit to places beyond consciousness. Her paintings release the imagination and extend the limits of ordinary perception. In her colorful scenes, which take place in a distant world, creatures and objects interact in unpredictable ways and are uninfluenced by the laws of physics. Artist Orna Ben-shoshan receives the images she paints through channeling. Unlike most artists, all of her paintings are completed in her mind before she transfers them onto the canvas. Orna's works infuse deep spiritual experience with subtle humor. During her career as a fine artist for the past forty years, Orna has created a large body of work and is presently focusing on oil paintings. In addition to oil paintings, she creates computer art. These images are transformed into hand-decorated prints on canvas. Currently she also works as a freelance illustrator and textile designer. Orna Ben-Shoshan was born in Kibbutz Yifaat, Israel, in 1956. She received her training as a graphic designer in Tel-Aviv. In 1982 she moved to the U.S. where she lived for fifteen years. Since her first one person show in 1983 (Lancaster, PA) Orna has exhibited her work in museums and galleries throughout the U.S. and abroad, including "ART EXPO N.Y." in 1996. She has received several awards, such as the "Grumbacher Award" from the Copley Society of Boston. Her work was published in "Yoga Journal" and by "Recycled Paper Products". She is also featured in the 10th edition of "The Encyclopedia of Living Artists". Orna returned to Israel in 1996 where she is continuing to work from her studio in Ra'anana. Her first one person show in Israel took place at "Tzavta", Tel-Aviv, in 1998 and won remarkable reviews. Since then, she has been exhibiting her art at numerous one-person and group shows in Israel and Europe. TIFERET CAN… Inspire you to write Connect you to a global community Lead toward peace in you and in the world SUBSCRIBE TODAY to enjoy beautiful, inspiring poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, interviews and visual art from some of today's best writers. PAST CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE: ROBERT BLY JEAN HOUSTON ROBERT PINSKY RAY BRADBURY STEPHEN DUNN ED HIRSCH ILAN STAVANS ALICIA OSTRIKER JANE HIRSHFIELD and so many more . Pulitzer Prize winners to newcomers! You are welcome to submit your own work (poems, stories, essays, interviews and visual art) for us to consider for publication. We also run an annual Writing Contest and award $1500 in prizes. More details can be found at www.tiferetjournal.com. Tiferet: Fostering Peace though Literature & Art is published twice a year in print and digital formats. We read only electronic submissions made through our website sub- mission feature; submissions made through email attachments or by postal delivery will not be considered. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION: Receive two large volumes per year in digital format. One Year Subscription $18.95 Two Year Subscription $35.95 Three Year Subscription $54.95 U.S. currency (cash or check) and Visa, Mastercard, American Express are accepted. For international delivery, extra charges will apply. Please inquire. ALL OTHER CORRESPONDENCE MAY BE DIRECTED TO: Tiferet Journal 211 Dryden Road Bernardsville, NJ 07924 [email protected] www.tiferetjournal.com ISSN 1547-2906 © 2020 TIFERET JOURNAL AUTUMN/WINTER 2019 Contents • • • • 9 IBRAHAM/ABRAHAM NULL HYPOTHESIS Nadia Ibrashi 36 C-19 John McDermott 11 SIX WAYS OF LOOKING UPON BUDDHA NATURE 37 DURING THIS PANDEMIC Laura Boss INSTEAD OF COUNTING SHEEP, THE BUDDHA TRIES TO COUNT STARS AND SURRENDERS 38 LIFE AT ARM'S LENGTH Beth Walker Michael T. Young 15 RUBY 39 WHEN THIS IS OVER, Ellen Prentiss Campbell WHAT THEN? Nancy Lubarsky 30 SUNDAY MORNING WITH SAUL ON THE HOSPICE UNIT 40 TANKA Franches Richey Pamela Babusci 32 POEMS ABOUT THE PANDEMIC: 41 IN GREEN TIME 33 SHELTERED IN PLACE, APRIL Penny Harter 2020 Adele Kenny 42 THE LATE AUGURIES Philip F. Clark 34 REMEMBER THE ALAMO Bob Rosenbloom 44 THE BEES ARRIVE AT DUSK 35 THE REAL STORY Rogan Kelly Jessica de Koninck 45 THESE ARE THE DAYS Ray Cicetti 46 TRANSFORMING FEAR IN THE WAKE OF A PANDEMIC Raechel Bratnick "Thank you for this journal which combines spiritual issues, imaginative issues, esthetic issues. All of those, I think, need to be in the mix for the richly lived life, the richly observed life.” – MOLLY PEACOCK, former President of the Poetry Society of America 56 THE HOUSE ON 66TH STREET Esther Mizrachi 84 GRANDMA TUCCI NEAPOLITAN TOMATO 62 WHY I TALKED TO MY DEAD SORCERESS FATHER Joan Daidone Lisa Romeo 89 MAKE THE WORLD A 66 BIRKAT HABAYIT: A WOMAN SENTENCE: AN INTERVIEW IS A BIRD WHEN WITH ROBERT VIVIAN Steven Wingate Jen Karetnick 67 IRIS 96 ROQUEFIXADE Sallie Bingham Kris Faatz 72 DEAR MRS. WHAT'S-HER-NAME 103 NAMING WHAT GOES AMONG THE Amy Champeau THINGS THAT CHANGE Susan Jackson 114 TOYS ON THE FRONT LINE Betsy Woodman 76 WHY WE ISOLATE BY CHOICE Grace de Rond 120 MAPS TO MECCA WHY EATING AN APPLE IS 81 JESUS GIVES THE KEYNOTE LIKE EATING THE WORLD ADDRESS AT THE NATIONAL Pervin Saket SPEECH & DEBATE TOURNAMENT 122 NOMAD'S HYMN Benjamin Bagocius Jed Myers 82 POEM-FINDING 124 TRAJECTORY: FIVE Kim Hansen ERASURE POEMS Amanda Berry 83 WHEN WE HAVE FINALLY SURRENDERED TO THAT BEAUTY Nancy K. Jentsch 126 SURREALISM IN POETRY: SOMETHING OTHER ? Adele Kenny 130 CHOICES MOVE CLOSER TO ME Jawanza Phoenix 132 MIYURI Michelle Ortega 133 ZOOMING WITH QUAKERS Jude Rittenhouse 135 BOOK REVIEW: REVOLUTIONS OF THE HEART: LITERARY, CULTURAL & SPIRITUAL Benjamin Bagocius 141 BOOK REVIEW: HER SISTER'S TATTOO Jacqueline Sheehan 143 BOOK REVIEW: KISSING THE LONG FACE OF THE GREYHOUND Adele Kenny POETRY Ibrahim/Abraham Nadia Ibrashi “All stories told have been told before.” Brandon Sanderson. My great-grandfather was rich with his knowledge, and a farm by the Nile. When his wife died, he wed a Sudanese woman. His six children crossed the house to avoid their step-brothers and sisters, usurpers of attention. My side didn’t mingle with the Sudanese side. We wore skirts, scorned their Jellabiyas. We didn’t invite them to our weddings, only funerals. Our grandfather rode a carriage, counseled to the King, their grandfather rode a donkey. Our common ancestor was an Honorable Theologian who taught how the earth feeds us, how we should unite like threads of a rope. He gave his children a photograph where a fez crowns his head, and calligraphy cradles his sides. I shall pass and my likeness remains after my demise as my bones rest in dust And when I die ask mercy for me from sins, from a forgiving divine Like all prophets, his progeny tries to decipher his words, syllables still flapping through our house of war. 9 POETRY Null Hypothesis Nadia Ibrashi I’ve become like the God-mad mystics who haunt St. Hussein Mosque in Egypt, wearing amulets, singing to the beat of drums, “He’s Alive, He’s Alive.” I’ve recruited a pantheon of saints, talismans and medals in my fight against my son’s seizures, St. Jude’s medal gifted by my hairdresser, glass talisman from Israel, its blue eye fending evil, sent by a friend, holy oil from an abbey in Lebanon, courtesy of a travelling monk, Novenas, Moslem chants, medicines, blood work and doctors, because I’m a scientist who believes in the Null Hypothesis, all things being equal till proved otherwise, so I show parity in my devotions, burn Frankincense, watch its fumes lift my pleadings to the sky.