the girl from the lost and found department

she comes to me in dreams
i hear the echoing whispers of her sneakers in the
old abandoned storage building

dusty cardboard boxes, coffers and long since forgotten luggage
destinations never reached
in times since long ago committed to memories in black and white

i find her by a desk going through an old ladies white leather handbag
the black bakelite desk phone looks like it hasn't rung for eons

she lifts here gaze and says: welcome to the lost and found department
of Long Lost Railroads, how may I help you?

when I don't answer, she turns back to the handbag, pulls out a handkerchief
i am about to ask her if she works here when she says: you shouldn't be here
this late

if you stay too long, you stay forever, it's time for you to leave
I say: what about you? she says: I lost me a long time ago, i already left
I want to ask her if she recognizes me, but as she dials a number on the phone

i hear the lower east side harbor din and distant christmas carols
bowery
the multicolored snowflakes swirling in the biting ellis island onshore wind
on Delancey Street, a bearded face, pointing toward the rusty bridgehead, he says:

that is where you're headed, see you on the other side

I see her still sometimes in lonely allies and in dreams
she's always in a rush, pushing the white handbag close to her
she never sees me

and we never speak

Comments

What is the problem with men?

I'm in a bad mood. Fed up. With men. To be clear: I'm not a feminist, I don't believe men to have a rape gene or to be incapable of acting decently due to sociological constraints, general upbringing or an in general evil manhood into which we are socialised. Never the less, I'm truly fed up with the way certain men behave towards women. Part of the reasons are purely egoistic: I'm fed up with being treated like a potential moron, molester or rapist. I'm tired of noticing how women ahead start speeding up when I'm quietly walking home at night, and having too slow down or change sidewalks not to scare her. And a few months ago in New York City I was unable to get a girl to date me, to even meet me in a restaurant, partly because of her previous encounters with inconsiderate schmucks and madmen. Instead we talked on the phone for some 8 (!) hours, half of which was devoted to her interrogating me as to whether I was a stalker, madman, alcoholic or something o...

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So how exactly should you behave in Shul? I mean on one hand it is fairly simple: Just pick up any standard “Judaism for dummies” book and it will tell you that during service s Shul is a house of prayer, period, and the only conversation that should be going on is the individuals and the congregations conversation with the Almighty. On the other hand we have the facts of reality, maybe best summoned up by the following comment: “Well....Feinstein goes to Shul to speak to God....me I go to Shul to speak to Feinstein.” I guess at least in small Diaspora communities, there is only so much you can do about it. We tend to have enough problems to get a Minyan together as it is. So as long as people don’t start babbling during the Amidah, babbling is more or less tolerated. Then again, severe conflicts of interest occur, specifically during High Holidays. Because then a lot of people who otherwise never attend Shul turns up, bumping into other more or less secular Jews who they only meet on...

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Introducing the Hardline According To
...Ofer Maimon

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