On Simple Meaning
by Zackary Sholem Berger
A Passover poem, inspired by the work of Dr. E.F.
Going out of Egypt only to pillage wells.
Nothing but what the story tells itself.
I was busy catching fish to awaken love.
This is in Egypt, nothing we’d now think of.
The skies open. Fire contends with hail.
This is in the story we need to stay within and tell.
Zackary Sholem Berger is a poet and translator in Baltimore working in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish. By day he is a mild-mannered primary care physician.
