an old writer and his words

  • APSE SOLUTION

    One downside of growing upJewish is that you never meetan angel or a church mouse I have met angels, although theywere in the guise of Bodhisattvas,and there are a surprising numberif you look carefully enough. As to church mice, I do haveto wonder why they are symbolic,for they have vast homes,direct access to God, orthe…

    Lou Faber

  • A PRAYER UNANSWERED

    When I was a child, a Rabbi told methat I did have the ability,to be used sparingly always,to petition God for some good. I filed this away with other storiesfrom the Torah, pillars of salt,stone tablets, a flood worse thanthe one that filled our basement. At some point I needed something,recollections are fortunately vaguenow, and…

    Lou Faber

  • TODAY’S PRAYER

    Today’s prayershall be recited in silence,total, not even the breathindicating a longing for action.Nor will it invokea holy spirit without usfor it is we whowe must inveighto attain the desiredactions for which we seekholy intervention, casting offfree will, an accreditingpoor decisions, a goatwhere we seek escapeand atonementfor the sins of all the others.Today’s prayershall not…

    Lou Faber

  • TOO MANY COOKS

    I can still recallthe day my motherwas ecstatic on learningthat everything grewout of a primordial soup.It was proof, shewas certain, of a JewishGod, even if he didn’tdo it all with his own hands.And, with a broad smileshe said, I’m fairly certainat the soupwas chicken, maybewith kreplach on the side.

    Lou Faber

  • QUESTION POSED, AWAITING A RESPONSE

    I stooped and spoketo a stone, asking the question.I was here before you arrivedand I will be her long after you leave.I held the sand in my handwarm from the sun, asking the question.I came after your arrivedand I will leave long before you are gone.I held the winter wind on the tipof a finger,…

    Lou Faber

  • WAITING FOR HEAVEN TO CALL

    He says he is waiting patientlyfor the arrival of heaven on earth. He is not sure what that will be likeand the descriptions he has seenare too fantastical to be believed,all clouds and angels and music He is hoping the things he lovesmost will be available in heaven,a good Alfredo sauce and Germanchocolate cake, for…

    Lou Faber

  • NO BIALYS TODAY

    No one looked up when the Buddhawalked into the deli and took a seatat the counter, “Pastrami on rye, andlean, with mustard on the side, and twoslices of full dill and a side of slaw.” As he sipped the Dr. Brown’s CreamSoda, the waitress smiled at him,asked, “Are those robes comfortable,winter isn’t all that far…

    Lou Faber

  • BUDDHA AND HILLEL DINE TOGETHER

    The meeting occurred by chance,two old men sitting in the same parkstaring at the same empty chess boardas the waves of the Stygian Sealapped against the break wall,the ferryman now at the helmof the great cargo ship.“So,” said Hillel, “you come here often?”Old, bent Buddha paused“as far as I know, I havealways been here, or…

    Lou Faber

  • HOLY ARMY

    1. A millennium agothe army of the lorddressed in mail and rodeproud steeds acrossbarren lands, swordsflashing in a red roasting sunwashed in the bloodof the infidels.They stopped for prayerblessing the bodiesleft along the dirt trackleft by their hooves,a common gravefor common facesdiffering only in the colorof skin and hair. 2. In this millenniumthe army of…

    Lou Faber

  • THREE MORE TRANSCRIPTS OF ENTRIES FROM THE TAPE RECORDED JOURNALS OF YETTA GOLDSTEIN

    ENTRY:  March 27, 1971 So, finally he’s here.  Nine months, what God, another joke?  Okay, she ate the damned apple, so stick it to the snake.  But what would you know, another man.  For six hours I’m lying there, dying from pain before the shmendrick walks in like some king, smiles at all the cutesy…

    Lou Faber