Rubin Friedman

The rabbi was intoning the prayer for the dead. 
 
The crowd around said amen at all the right spots 
 
And like a wild herd watching the wolf 
 
All craned their necks towards the headstone. 
 
And when the widow arose 
 
They all inhaled and moved around her. 
 
They waited breathless for her to say the Kaddish 
 
And when she bowed, 
 
They also bowed and […]

Looking for a way out of this box 
 
I do not want to lose the box 
 
Or the thing that thinks and feels 
 
And searches to escape. 
 
 
“Everything is infused with ego,” 
 
Said Dr. Freud and gave Bill Clinton his cigar 
 
Who wondered what to do with the burning tip 
 
And closed his ears when told, 
 
“Just smoke the damn thing!” 
 
 
This is a […]

On a late afternoon, I went jogging in my neighbourhood.
 
Except for a few giant trees and the old stone house on the corner
 
I was older than everything I saw.
 
I was older than the asphalt that felt like the brittle bones of aging men,
 
Older than the sidewalk, older than the grass
 
Older than the houses all around.
 
And […]

Today, the sounds of construction awoke me.
 

The pounding of steel pylons into the ground
 

Shook the floors of my house and rattled my teeth.
 

And when I left to go to work
 

I felt all the lost and hopeless,
 

Surrender to the thunder and power,
 

The roar of the cars, the movement of steamrollers
 

And the frightening giant maw of the […]