Poetica Magazine

Letter, Be (Bateau Ivrit )

Aleph, any sound and none

in the beginning, there was B,

but A begat it all

Reverse the letter’s letters

and Aleph – one – becomes wonder:

Pehleh, which opens its mouth in awe

Peh, both letter and mouth

sound makes the mouth and the mouth makes sound

utterly abacadabresque

Leh, one sound apart from the heart, Lev

its L called Lamed, the longest letter

the middlemost, elevated at the heart of them all

Alter one sound of Lamed to learn: Lomed

to learn is to reach to/from the heart of it

so much longing at the heart of learning

But here we are all belonging

belettered, aloft

when one can wonder, one can be.

One can again begin.