Beginning

Beginning
created God
heavens and
earth.

Void
and unformed
topsy-turvy
darkness.

That's
us, too:
starting over
uncertain

will
our roads
be rebuilt,
repaired

public
health and
child care
funded

or
will compromise
falter, founder
splinter

like
the chaos
that preceded
creation

when
with beginnings
God created
us?

 

 

Beginning / created God. See Genesis 1:1. The opening words of Torah can be rendered as "In the beginning, God created," or "With the quality of beginning, God created," or "In a beginning, God created..." In Hebrew syntax, the words appear in the order beginning, created, God. 

Will / our roads  / be rebuilt. See Manchin, a key Democratic hold out..., New York Times; Splintered Democrats delay key vote..., Washington Post. 

The chaos / that preceded/creation. See Genesis 1:2. Tohu va-vohu can be rendered as "unformed and void," or "wild and waste" -- in a word, the chaos that preceded order.

Write poetry instead of doomscrolling, I said to myself, and this poem is what happened. From the chaos of this political moment, will light emerge?