Bless You, and: The Torah Scribe's Riddle

Abstract

Bless You, and: The Torah Scribe's Riddle Richard Michelson (bio) BLESS YOU … since sneezing was the first sign of falling ill with the plague,Pope Gregory ordered prayer for divine intercession.Gesundheit, great-aunt Frida calls out, each sneezeanother occasion for my soul to abandon my body.I hurry my index finger under my nose horizontallyblocking both nostrils as tutored, so evil can't seizean inhale to fill the void. Denying the devil his due,Frida dubs it, she who, at sixty to my six, reflexivelyworries her brow, reaches toward a box of Kleenex,and spits over her shoulder. I mimic ptui, ptui, ptui.Tonight, eight years older than she was at her death,and dining curbside to curtail the coronavirus, I hear,two tables over, ah-choo, and for the first time in yearsmeasure the distance between superstition and truth.Around me, panic, as mid forkful, everyone freezes.May God keep us up-wind from all airborne diseases. [End Page 575] THE TORAH SCRIBE'S RIDDLE Plucked from a chicken, the left-wing flight feathered quillwill be his fingers' first partner for this dance of survival,this bi-millennial perfectly choreographed dip, spin, and swivel,till all three hundred and four thousand, eight hundred and fiveletters are complete; a trot and tango of statutes, stories and begats.Let the metal forgers, the woodworkers, the carvers of limestonecompete with their statues of this lower-case deity, or that.Shall we pray to a ceramic bird head or to The Great Unknown?he asks me, who stopped by for neither idle nor idol chatter,but to see the parchments sewn and to learn to mix the ink.I ask how animal veins are dried for thread, but he is undeterred.Absurd, your attempt to learn the skill without loving the matter,he scolds. Do we not create ourselves as we transcribe, think,and debate? Now I ask you which came first: God or The Word? [End Page 576] Richard Michelson RICHARD MICHELSON's most recent collection is More Money than God (University of Pittsburgh Poetry Series). Michelson served two terms as Poet Laureate of Northampton MA where he owns R. Michelson Galleries and hosts Northampton Poetry Radio. www.RichardMichelson.com. Copyright © 2021 Richard Michelson