At the Women's Seder

Abstract

At the women’s seder Rose Bromberg (bio) we pass the matzah, bitter herbs, charoset. Someone tells a joke. My cousin Sonya laughs, her blue-shadowed eyes lined and lashed like butterflies in flight. Then she lifts an orange, which passes from one hand to the next. Each guest peels a piece of bright rind from the navel, baring white spongy core: [End Page 49] sectioned orange segments, liquid sacs of juice trickle from lips, gleam ten drops of redemption. [End Page 50] Rose Bromberg Rose Bromberg is a resident poet with the Program in Narrative Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. She serves as a poetry reader for the Bellevue Literary Review. Her poems have appeared in many literary journals. Currently, she is developing a general collection, including topics on medical humanities and Judaica. Rose is a 2007 Pushcart Prize nominee in Poetry. Copyright © 2008 by Bridges Association