By Richard Widerkehr
There are these doors
of generations. Some doors
are thin bridges, as Rabbi
Nachman says, plaintive
calls not to be afraid.
Some doors may change
the key we sing in.
Others are written, but we
can still argue with them.
Some doors are gold.
Some are wind and grass,
swept from nowhere
except where they began
in a beggar’s hand.
First published in Jewish Literary Journal and in At the Grace Cafe (Main Street Rag Publications).
Copyright 2024 Widerkehr
Richard Widerkehr ’s fourth book of poems, Night Journey, was published by Shanti Art Press, which will also bring out his next one, Missing The Owl, in the fall of 2024. Main Street Rag brought out his previous book, At The Grace Cafe; Moonpath Press published In The Presence of Absence, and Plain View Press brought out The Way Home. He has three chapbooks and one novel, Sedimental Journey, published by Tarragon Books. His work has appeared in Atlanta Review, Writer’s Almanac, Verse Daily, and many others. He won two Hopwood first prizes for poetry at the University of Michigan, three prizes in The Bridge’s annual contests, and first prize for a short story at the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference. He has been a poetry reader at SHARK REEF Literary Magazine for 12 years.
All work by Richard Widerkehr
