The day after he went blind, R’ Bunim visited R’ Fishel, who was known to perform miracle cures. R’ Fishel told him, “Entrust yourself to my care. I shall restore your light.” “That’s not necessary,” replied R’ Bunim. “I see what I need to see.”
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Joshua Boettiger Knows the Word is Sovereign
Joshua Boettiger was driven from the world of men and lived seven years like a beast of the field. He grazed on ladino clover and alfalfa, his back each morning drenched with dew. He swore that he would change.
Later, Joshua Boettiger reverted to his old tricks.
Joshua Boettiger can drive a sixteen-penny nail with one tap, then one stroke. Joshua Boettiger is steel tariffs lifted. He is on the make. Joshua Boettiger was the first white kid to wear fat laces in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Joshua Boettiger is the drink of a man eleven months sober.
Joshua Boettiger is like a rabbit thumping its hind leg, calling its fears forward. Joshua Boettiger is afraid of the dark and makes a god out of every nightlight. He learned how to still the fear, but then the love stopped moving, too.
But don’t pity Joshua Boettiger. He knows the not-knowing is not-honored.
Joshua Boettiger lives in Ashland, Oregon. His poems and essays have appeared in Parabola, San Pedro River Review, Verseweavers, and elsewhere, and he is a contributing author to the forthcoming anthology, Neither Here Nor There: The Many Voices of Liminality.