LA JOLLA, California — Topics from swings to enlightenment were subjects for the student poets and writers from the San Diego Jewish Academy Middle School and High School, San Diego’s Torah High School and Portland, Oregon’s Jewish Academy Middle School who read their poems to more than 50 Zoom listeners, Tuesday evening, March 14. Joy Heitzmann, co-founder of the 15-year old Jewish Poets—Jewish Voices Committee, served as moderator. These programs are staffed by JCC Senior and Adult Director, Melanie Rubin, and Senior and Adult Program Coordinator, Alyssa Micklos.
NATURE’S FIRST GREEN by Daniel Frankel, San Diego Jewish Academy Middle School
Sitting.
Staring.
Holding.
Crying.
But you still stay.
You stay there, hugging,
Comforting.
But, you don’t have to.
You can leave.
I tell you to
Quite often,
But, you stay.
You always,
Always,
Always stay.
You don’t know how much that means.
You don’t know the truth.
You don’t understand
How it feels,
How it hurts,
How much I need you.
But, you still stay.
So, this.
This is my thank you.
My everlasting thank you.
I know one day you will leave.
But, please, stay.
Stay for now.
Because, each time
I fall apart
Into your arms,
You put me back together.
So, stay.
I need you.
I want you.
You hold
Me up.
You carry me,
And put me
Back together
Each time I fall, I shatter.
So, this.
This is my thank you.
My everlasting thank you.
I know one day you will leave.
But, please, stay.
Stay for now.
Because, each time
I fall apart
Into your arms,
You put me back together.
A BLUISH TINT by Kai Berkson-Klaus, Portland Jewish Academy Middle School
Candles aglow
illuminating faces of the dead
Music glides across the seats
Like a wave of people
Fire like new generations
Darkness pulls the light in
Death screaming out
Phones with a bluish tint in front of us
A tall curtain hiding
what it does not want the world to see
We share it with our kin
But they don’t know what hides behind
The screens are scarred hopes
And devastated generations
Their children
Looking up at you
SWINGS by Sequoia Dorfman, Portland Jewish Academy Middle School
Do you remember
When you went on the swings
For the first time?
That moment between
Rising and falling
How life felt infinite
And your head filled with pleasure.
That split second
When there were no worries
Nothing to think about
Just the wind in your face.
But the second you fall
A rush of of energy hits you
And the whole world suddenly
Goes into motion.
And then you rise.
Everything stops again
And your vision is blurry
It’s the best feeling in the world,
Flying high.
MAP OF LIFE by Madrona Dorfman, Portland Jewish Academy Middle School
A map of the world is difficult to understand
It’s a purple tulip in a field of white daisies,
Different in every way, yet the same in another
But the cruelest map of all, is not of our world
But of our own life.
A map shows important things.
Even if we gaze at it for long.
Even if we travel along it widely.
Even if we think hard about it.
A map is still made up of all the things we don’t know.
Just like life.
But when we look at the maps of two lives
There will always be a difference.
No matter how hard we think.
No matter how hard we look.
We will never find a clone.
Just like life.
It’s a heap of broken records piled on top
Of roller coasters and hearts of gold.
MY PATH (Excerpts) by Kobi Schneider, San Diego Jewish Academy High School
As a young adult living in the early 2020s, I rarely have time to think about life’s deep questions. I constantly distract myself with meaningless troubles such as grades, school, friends, movies, and extracurriculars. However, when reading Siddhartha, I suddenly felt the urge to escape the small, foolish aspects of life and start focusing on the bigger question: Am I on the right path? To answer this question, I first had to define the path that I was (and still am) on.
I would say my path was (and still is) best described by three words: academics, obsessions, and non-athleticism. I care about doing well in school, especially in the four core subjects (science, history, English, and math or STEM). Not only do I care about STEM, but I also get obsessed (sometimes too obsessed) with seemingly random aspects of it. I’ve been obsessed with the Anglo-Saxons of England, human nature, and much more. These obsessions give me very little time for athletics; I don’t do that many organized sports and I’m not a fan of any sports team.