Baruch November's recent major work
is a full-lenght book of poetry entitled Bar Mitzvah Dreams. He co-won BigCityLit's chapbook contest with his work entitled "Dry Nectars of Plenty." His poems & short stories have been in Paterson Literary Review, Lumina, & The Forward, among other places. He teaches Shakespeare, Poetry, & Writing at Touro College.
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A Source Beyond Friction
Baruch November
Baruch November
She finds worshippers
but not a match
to her Sephardic beauty,
which demands men stare upon it
like fire, wondering
at the true source of flames
beyond the friction
and the coals that,
when fanned,
open their golden eyes
to stare back.
Williamsburg, N.Y.
Baruch November
Baruch November
Here, Brooklyn knows
no silence. Along the roads, black hats
float by on bearded, white bodies.
Beside them, snoods and long wigs,
wet with the sweat of August,
push strollers.
Some of the Chassidim argue, quoting
early rabbis as if every breath
of their budding families depended
on exact wording,
but even if the terrible happened:
a large truck swerved
directly over their lives, leaving
their breathless bodies
heaped on hot concrete,
this might not be
their end—as it is said
in the Zohar, the righteous
attain greater presence
in this world
without body.
After Esav
Baruch November
Baruch November
Why are you not married?
The rabbis of my early days
Demand of me
In my raging dreams.
Like the gatherers of old,
I have scavenged the cold world
for answers,
reassured myself
the problem is not
in the plainness
of my reflection
or the burning color
of my hair— the color of
that ancient hunter,
that great sinner
whose body was lust-driven,
and who bit his brother's neck
when they embraced,
only to find it made of marble
for that instant
and come away as
hungry as ever.