Poetry Friday: Apples and Honey
Matt Forrest Esenwine is hosting this week’s Poetry Friday round up. Stop by Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme for links to poetry posts from around the kidlitosphere.
Happy Poetry Friday and Shana Tovah! This evening marks the start of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
The greeting “Shana Tovah” means “good year.” If you’re curious, you can read more about this phrase and the significance of Rosh Hashanah in Jewish culture in this article.
It wouldn’t be a festival without special foods. Apples and honey (and apples dipped in honey, my favorite) are traditional, because they set our intention for a sweet year ahead.
Last week, I baked and froze a round challah for tonight’s Shabbat dinner. This is a special shape for the Rosh Hashanah holiday, symbolizing goodness without end. It was my first time braiding a round loaf!
This week, I took a webinar and learned how to make a lemony honey cake. I hope there’s some left for dessert tonight. If not, I won’t complain about having apple slices and honey.
With so much unknown about the year ahead during the pandemic, Marge Piercy’s Rosh Hashanah poem struck a chord for me. I love the reminder “putting by of what will sustain them” — which might be vegetables brought in from the garden, then canned or frozen. But it might also mean making time to bake, read, do yoga, knit — things that sustain our hearts.
Whether or not you are celebrating the New Year today, I hope you enjoy the poem.
The late year
BY MARGE PIERCY
I like Rosh Hashonah late,
when the leaves are half burnt
umber and scarlet, when sunset
marks the horizon with slow fire
and the black silhouettes
of migrating birds perch
on the wires davening.I like Rosh Hashonah late
when all living are counting
their days toward death
or sleep or the putting by
of what will sustain them—
when the cold whose tendrils
translucent as a jellyfish
and with a hidden sting
just brush our faces
at twilight. The threat
of frost, a premonition
a warning, a whisper
whose words we cannot
yet decipher but will.
Read the rest at the Poetry Foundation.
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