Miriam's Skin
- Miriam's Skin
And the cloud turned from the Tent and there was Miriam, stricken with leprosy like snow.
Numbers 12:10
One drapes over the other dark smoke streaming pale skin light presses seeking entry until I begin to sense myself as home to One who loves me wet light one yearns to get inside and if a cloud must burn itself across in search of that well who am I to say no who am I to say anything when words come to rest like the braided prints of birds or the last winter twigs on snow who am I to say who am I limbs stretched in four directions a voice transcribing itself along my spine lacing my hips, making maps
Yiskah Rosenfeld holds an MFA in poetry and an MA in jurisprudence and social policy. She teaches classes in Judaism, feminism, and creativity and served as coordinator of Kol Isha, the first Bay Area conference on Jewish women's poetry. An award-winning poet, her poems and essays appear in publications including Yentl's Revenge, Jewish Women in America, and Lilith Magazine. Now a rabbinical student, she is writing on Biblical encounters between women and G-d for a Jewish women's studies certificate through Temple University.
