James King
Western Wall
It was still wailing then.
I watched and listened:
the swaying,
the paper prayers,
pistols and payots,
sandals and shtreimels,
guards and gartels,
tank tops and tallit.
Some moss, a few trees
trying to grow their way
out of limestone crags,
straining for rays
off the gold reflection
of another god’s smile.
“During a backpacking trip through Europe, the Middle East, and Asia in the late 70s and early 80s, I spent several months on a kibbutz just outside Jerusalem. I was fascinated by the beauty, contrasts, and constantly simmering tensions of the land and its peoples, all of which inspired ‘Western Wall’.”
James King’s poetry has appeared in The Dillyduon Review, The Thieving Magpie, OpenDoor Poetry Magazine, Oddville Press, Big City Lit, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Crowstep Poetry Journal, and other journals and anthologies. He is also the author of the award-winning novel, Bill Warrington’s Last Chance. James is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and has an MA in writing from Manhattanville College. He lives in Wilton, Connecticut, USA.