Home / Poetry / Holy, Holy, Holy

Holy, Holy, Holy

By on February 21, 2016

holyholyholy

Graphic by Emmarogenous.

Written by Anna Lea Jancewicz. Anna Lea Jancewicz lives in Norfolk, Virginia, where she homeschools her children and haunts the public libraries. She is an editor for Cease, Cows and her writing has appeared or is forthcoming at Burrow Press Review, The Fem, The Forge, Lockjaw, and many other venues. Her flash fiction “Marriage” was chosen for The Best Small Fictions 2015. Say it: Yahnt-SEV-ich. More at: annajancewicz.wordpress.com.

Rated R

I could see that you were a holy man, desperately
holy, G-d crouched on your back with a
mouthful of black earth, and the stink of love

A holy man, which is to say, the loneliest man to
ever purchase an avocado sandwich in a plastic box
on a rainy and fish-bellied Florida afternoon

I hoped for your sake, and for the sake of
all the worlds, that the sliced tomato
would be very ripe, and so very red

It was already written that I would draw
your damaged heart in pencil, make corrections
It was already written that I would learn
the names of the sefirot, wrench your hip from
its socket, bring you figs in a small paper bag

kadosh, kadosh, kadosh

Holy, holy, holy     those shared cigarettes, that
long pink blouse of cheap cotton I wore when
you came to be fed but touched my bruised ribs instead

Holy, holy, holy     Bob Dylan on vinyl, the
bed just a pallet on the floor, your voice as bare:
I like to watch you pray

It was already written that I would stand
red-haired in your sukkah, like Batsheva on the roof
It was already written that I would speak for
carnality, of food and fucking, and never return
the Borges book with your notes in the margin

kadosh, kadosh, kadosh

Holy, holy, holy     you, squatting expectantly
in that cleft in the rock, but averting your eyes

Holy, holy, holy     you, singularly equidistant
between a dybbuk and the deep blue sea

Jewrotica is a spankin' new project with the power to provide a voice for Jewish sexual expression and meaningful conversation. Jewrotica is an online community-in-the-making and a database of delicious and grin-inducing Jewish stories and confessions. Join us!
Related Items