by Maya Bernstein
Wearing my grandmother’s Lion of Judah
pin and my mother’s string of pearls,
I tap quiet trochees against the torn cover
of my prayer book during Torah reading.
(Benjamin has just been caught with the chalice
in his pack). Ten lines in, unable to contain
the words, I slip out of the sanctuary
(just as the brothers are brought back to Egypt)
and lock myself in a bathroom stall
with the pen and paper I borrowed
from the Rabbi’s office. The women’s
room is full of preteen girls preening
in front of the mirror. One traces
wine-colored lines on her lips. You can’t
use lipstick on the Sabbath! her friend chides her,
as I spill ink on the Day of Rest,
as the brothers beg for Benjamin’s life,
as Joseph cries, I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?
::
Maya Bernstein’s writing has appeared in the Amethyst Review, On the Seawall, the Ekphrastic Review, Gashmius Magazine, Lumina Journal, Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality and the Arts, Pigeon Pages, SWIMM Every Day, Vita Poetica, and elsewhere. She is a graduate of the MFA program at Sarah Lawrence College, and her first collection is There Is No Place Without You (Ben Yehuda Press, 2022). Maya serves on the board of Yetzirah: A Hearth for Jewish Poetry. Learn more about her at mayabernstein.com.
Image: Aaron Burden
ID: a fountain pen and open notebook.
Psaltery & Lyre 