We

[PrinceMyshkin]

There’s a deep-felt community
of those who never meet
except by accident, across the counter
at a neighbourhood café
or in line at the supermarket.

They have no secret rituals
of recognition other than a smile
that lingers longer
than it might otherwise do, eyes
open in surprise, an eagerness
to hear each other’s opinion
on the weather, on the decline
of global civility, the prospects
for our survival.

They will meet again, they know, soon
or never.

[Virgil]

Wonderful. I think this is excellent Prince. Actually it's really touching. You hit on a moment we all have and capture that emotion and connection. Kudos.

[Maryd.]

Wow, Prince. I like this one. Thanks for sharing. It's so true though.

[Sampson]

Brilliant! I love the way your poetry captures the beauty in everyday life; you draw upon something deep through mere surface reflections. As inspired as all your work (:

[PrinceMyshkin]

Wonderful. I think this is excellent Prince. Actually it's really touching. You hit on a moment we all have and capture that emotion and connection. Kudos.

Thank you, Virgil, MaryD and Sampson, I'll provide the story behind this later after, hopefully, one or two more have commented. For now, I'd like to say that this was written, practically verbatim, as the shoes of the other man were still descending the steps from the Cafe.

[Buh4Bee]

It's a lovely moment captured in the rush of lonely feelings or distracted busy errands. Maybe just the business of life.

[firefangled]

The close of this is what breathes it out of the ordinary. It is the sharing of commonality that gives rise to the uncommon day.

[PrinceMyshkin]

It's a lovely moment captured in the rush of lonely feelings or distracted busy errands. Maybe just the business of life.

No, I was neither lonely at the moment of this encounter not was I looking to be distracted. I will post the background to this poem in a little while.


The close of this is what breathes it out of the ordinary. It is the sharing of commonality that gives rise to the uncommon day.

Thank you. I hoped, of course, that that "soon / or never" would convey what it appears to have done to you. And it was of the essence of this connection that I could with unaccustomed calm accept that there might be no continuance of it other than in my memory.

[Buh4Bee]

Of course not.

[Babyguile]

A+

Lovely and simple...

[PrinceMyshkin]

A+

Lovely and simple...

Many thanks, TheDave.

[Virgil]

There’s a deep-felt community
of those who never meet
except by accident, across the counter
at a neighbourhood café
or in line at the supermarket.

They have no secret rituals
of recognition other than a smile
that lingers longer
than it might otherwise do, eyes
open in surprise, an eagerness
to hear each other’s opinion
on the weather, on the decline
of global civility, the prospects
for our survival.

They will meet again, they know, soon
or never.


When I first read it, I was thinking of us on lit net. Perhaps we will all meet one day and shake hands and exchange hugs. Peace and love (no I'm not turning into a hippie ;)) to all of you here. :)

[The Walker]

I thought of LitNet too at first but I liked the course it took.

Very simple and somehow deep. Thanks for sharing Prince! :)

[MorpheusSandman]

Very simple and somehow deep.That's a consistent quality in Prince's work. An effortless artfulness that seems to some how make a feast out of a presentation that looks merely like scraps.

I love it Prince. I don't know you dangle rhymes like you do. When "never" hits I know it has a resonance with a word in the piece somewhere and I have to back-track my eyes up 5-half lines (beautifully separated by those commas, btw) to find "weather". That's such a neat "trick", and really calling it a trick minimizes how rather brilliant it is.

My only suggestion is I might remove the "do" after "otherwise".

[blazeofglory]

There’s a deep-felt community
of those who never meet
except by accident, across the counter
at a neighbourhood café
or in line at the supermarket.

They have no secret rituals
of recognition other than a smile
that lingers longer
than it might otherwise do, eyes
open in surprise, an eagerness
to hear each other’s opinion
on the weather, on the decline
of global civility, the prospects
for our survival.

They will meet again, they know, soon
or never.


This poem touched me so much and it is exactly what I beleive in life. In fact such feelings are rich when we can have such memories fresh. Yes we come across people at bus stations, at airports and we smile at one another and depart but the memories last.

[Bar22do]

This is soft and loving, very good. Something we all experience at times and which you have paid tribute to in this poetic dimension...

[PrinceMyshkin]

This is soft and loving, very good. Something we all experience at times and which you have paid tribute to in this poetic dimension...

Thank you, Bar.

I was sitting in my usual place at the short leg of the inverted L-shaped counter at my café. At the far end of the long leg I saw a man drawing a regular coffee from the urn. He was wearing an astrakhan rather than the shtreiml (the round fur hat that a Khasid would wear, except that no Khasid would ever enter that café) but I conjectured that he was a Jew and called out to him “How are you?” (In Yiddish, a language that will always have for me the warmth of my dearly loved late grandmother)

“Barukh ha-Shem” (Bless the Name) he responded in conventional orthodox style.

We continued in Yiddish, exchanging biographical information - that I was born and grew up a few blocks from here; that he was from Argentina, of Syrian-born parents), the number of children we had, &c., and then came the perhaps inevitable question:

Which synagogue did I regularly attend?

None, I answered, because I was not a believer.

“You are a believer,” he said in a firm but not assertive voice, “only you don’t attend synagogue.”

We exclaimed names; he said he hoped we would have the chance to talk some more, and he left.

The door had hardly swung shut behind him when I began the above poem, which is more or less verbatim.

[blank|verse]

I think I was like the others in sensing an oblique reference to the people on the forum, and it's difficult not to read it in this context. The phrase 'in line' comes very close to 'on line' to reinforce this.


an eagerness
to hear each other’s opinion
on the weather, on the decline
of global civility, the prospects
for our survival.
Like Morpheus, I enjoyed the rhythm of this section as well; effective use of commas, which suggests more than is stated.

[hack]

Shalom, my friend
There are many of us
who read that great book
and wish that we could believe,
if only for our grandmothers.

[Virgil]

Thank you, Bar.

I was sitting in my usual place at the short leg of the inverted L-shaped counter at my café. At the far end of the long leg I saw a man drawing a regular coffee from the urn. He was wearing an astrakhan rather than the shtreiml (the round fur hat that a Khasid would wear, except that no Khasid would ever enter that café) but I conjectured that he was a Jew and called out to him “How are you?” (In Yiddish, a language that will always have for me the warmth of my dearly loved late grandmother)

“Barukh ha-Shem” (Bless the Name) he responded in conventional orthodox style.

We continued in Yiddish, exchanging biographical information - that I was born and grew up a few blocks from here; that he was from Argentina, of Syrian-born parents), the number of children we had, &c., and then came the perhaps inevitable question:

Which synagogue did I regularly attend?

None, I answered, because I was not a believer.

“You are a believer,” he said in a firm but not assertive voice, “only you don’t attend synagogue.”

We exclaimed names; he said he hoped we would have the chance to talk some more, and he left.

The door had hardly swung shut behind him when I began the above poem, which is more or less verbatim.

What a great story! You know I live in an orthodox neighborhood and lots of Hasidim (sp?) around here. In fact there is a temple right across the street and a month or so ago on a sabath evening a young fellow asked me to shut off their oven for him since it apparently they didn't time the sundown correctly.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I think I was like the others in sensing an oblique reference to the people on the forum, and it's difficult not to read it in this context. The phrase 'in line' comes very close to 'on line' to reinforce this.


No, much as I treasure some of the responses on here (to other posts as well as my own) and the exchange of PMs and email (I've a GREAT friend I've never met with whom I've been emailing & speaking on the phone for about eight years) as much as I value those contacts, there's nothing for me like the sight of someone's animated face, body language...

[symphony]

There’s a deep-felt community
of those who never meet
except by accident, across the counter
at a neighbourhood café
or in line at the supermarket.

They have no secret rituals
of recognition other than a smile
that lingers longer
than it might otherwise do, eyes
open in surprise, an eagerness
to hear each other’s opinion
on the weather, on the decline
of global civility, the prospects
for our survival.

They will meet again, they know, soon
or never.


How very lovely!

[hoope]

WoW.. this is so touching Myshkin!! i enjoyed reading ...
Really lovely poem :)

[PrinceMyshkin]

What a great story! You know I live in an orthodox neighborhood and lots of Hasidim (sp?) around here. In fact there is a temple right across the street and a month or so ago on a sabath evening a young fellow asked me to shut off their oven for him since it apparently they didn't time the sundown correctly.

Your spelling of Hasidim is spot on! It is of course the transliterated plural, and I welcome your use of it as I flinch whenever I write Hasids for an English-speaking viewer. But did you know that there are (at least) 4 different sects among them, some of whom don't even recognize the others as fellow Jews? Makes my own oh-so-normally-cool blood boil! I even thought of founding a fifth sect, the sole function of which would be to de-legitimize all the others!

[Virgil]

Your spelling of Hasidim is spot on! It is of course the transliterated plural, and I welcome your use of it as I flinch whenever I write Hasids for an English-speaking viewer. But did you know that there are (at least) 4 different sects among them, some of whom don't even recognize the others as fellow Jews? Makes my own oh-so-normally-cool blood boil! I even thought of founding a fifth sect, the sole function of which would be to de-legitimize all the others!

No I didn't know about the four kinds. To some degree the Hasidim are a mystery to me. People who get hung up on religious denominations and will argue one minor point to the death and find grevious fault over the difference are incredibly dumb if you ask me. The same thing happens in Christianity. It seems it's not enough to find one's own understanding of the devine but they have to impose it on others. I can understand why your blood would boil over it.

[PrinceMyshkin]

No I didn't know about the four kinds. To some degree the Hasidim are a mystery to me. People who get hung up on religious denominations and will argue one minor point to the death and find grevious fault over the difference are incredibly dumb if you ask me. The same thing happens in Christianity. It seems it's not enough to find one's own understanding of the devine but they have to impose it on others. I can understand why your blood would boil over it.

I can fantasize the discovery of versions of both the Old and New Testaments that are indisputably authentic and pre-date the earliest hitherto known versions. It is noted, however, that in each of them a comma is either missing or is discovered that was omitted from the later versions, whereupon a tsunami of reinterpretation arises.

[JuniperWoolf]

It's a lovely moment captured in the rush of lonely feelings or distracted busy errands. Maybe just the business of life.

Hah, that's exactly how I chose to read it. You nailed just what I was thinking. Even if that's not what the writer had in mind, I think that's a good interpretation. What a great theme, maybe I'll write something to that effect.


Shalom, my friend
There are many of us
who read that great book
and wish that we could believe,
if only for our grandmothers.

Nice, I like it very much.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Shalom, my friend
There are many of us
who read that great book
and wish that we could believe,
if only for our grandmothers.

Thanks, khaver. Have you heard of or read Rebecca Newberger Goldstein's 36 Arguments for the Existence of God? I've only just read a review of it but can hardly wait to get it from my local library.

[hack]

I will add it to my list. I am waiting for my library to get me "The Cinnamon Shops" at Bar's accidental urging. We share an admiration for it's author, Bruno Schulz. His was a tragic and amazing life. I have, for some time, meant to read that book. Books have become something of a luxury for me, most of my reading of late has been on the internet, and tends toward science and history.

[Bar22do]

I will add it to my list. I am waiting for my library to get me "The Cinnamon Shops" at Bar's accidental urging. We share an admiration for it's author, Bruno Schulz. His was a tragic and amazing life. I have, for some time, meant to read that book. Books have become something of a luxury for me, most of my reading of late has been on the internet, and tends toward science and history.
Hack, this is great news!
You are probably aware you can read fragments of Bruno Schultz's works on the site devoted to him: http://www.schulzian.net/index.htm
but I am so excited to learn you are now going to discover him "for real" (in a "normal" book)! He is an extraordinary story teller of dark and love, a great great artist indeed. And I still wonder how you discovered his extraordinary, and still not well known, art!

[Bar22do]

Your spelling of Hasidim is spot on! It is of course the transliterated plural, and I welcome your use of it as I flinch whenever I write Hasids for an English-speaking viewer. But did you know that there are (at least) 4 different sects among them, some of whom don't even recognize the others as fellow Jews? Makes my own oh-so-normally-cool blood boil! I even thought of founding a fifth sect, the sole function of which would be to de-legitimize all the others!

Were you willing to found a next Dynasty (Hassidim gather in individual groups around the learned and the wise whom they recognize for their teacher and who then starts a Dynasty) it would be far from number 5.
There are over 40 main and then literally tens of minor Hassidic Dynasties REVIVED (the Shoah effectively destroyed almost all of them in burning piles of the camps indeed), each with its own tradition to preserve. There are deep (material and spiritual) reasons that justify the hermetic nature of these groups, and it seems to me a good idea, if I may, before one hurries to de-legitimize another, to withhold judgment, or to thoroughly study these traditions first (if groups are locked, books are available). And who knows, then, if the fervency to uproot what appears as a weed, becomes not one to unravel precious treasures of universal value. It loosely brings back to my memory the allegory of Baalam who eventually blessed whom he wanted to curse.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Were you willing to found a next Dynasty (Hassidim gather in individual groups around the learned and the wise whom they recognize for their teacher and who then starts a Dynasty) it would be far from number 5.
There are over 40 main and then literally tens of minor Hassidic Dynasties REVIVED (the Shoah effectively destroyed almost all of them in burning piles of the camps indeed), each with its own tradition to preserve. There are deep (material and spiritual) reasons that justify the hermetic nature of these groups, and it seems to me a good idea, if I may, before one hurries to de-legitimize another, to withhold judgment, or to thoroughly study these traditions first (if groups are locked, books are available). And who knows, then, if the fervency to uproot what appears as a weed, becomes not one to unravel precious treasures of universal value. It loosely brings back to my memory the allegory of Baalam who eventually blessed whom he wanted to curse.

I apologize for giving offense to those know more than I do about the Hasidim and their beliefs and espcially their capacity for joy.

[Virgil]

I apologize for giving offense to those know more than I do about the Hasidim and their beliefs and espcially their capacity for joy.

No wonder they're a mystery to me. It's so complicated that even Jews don't understand it. ;)

[PrinceMyshkin]

No wonder they're a mystery to me. It's so complicated that even Jews don't understand it. ;)

"One out of every two Jews is crazy, and they take turns being the crazy one so you're never perfectly sure which one you're dealing with."

Jerry Newman

[PrinceMyshkin]

Many thanks Juniper, Symphony, hoope and blnk_vrz.

[qimissung]

I do love this one, Prince. I am particularly captivated by the last line "they will meet again, soon or never." which I find to be true.

I believe I read somewhere that talking with the people we encounter as we go about our daily tasks, the cashier at the supermarket, the butcher who slicesour meat, the postmaster or mistress, the guy behind the counter at the cleaner, provides meaningful interactions for us. And your poem perfectly captures this idea.

I loved the story behind it and the resulting conversation about the Hasidim, too. I think of all the threads on lit-net, yours is the most successful at creating that warm, steamy coffeeshop atmosphere of congeneality with the caffienated energy of conversation and ideas.

For which I thank you, Prince.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I do love this one, Prince. I am particularly captivated by the last line "they will meet again, soon or never." which I find to be true.

I believe I read somewhere that talking with the people we encounter as we go about our daily tasks, the cashier at the supermarket, the butcher who slicesour meat, the postmaster or mistress, the guy behind the counter at the cleaner, provides meaningful interactions for us. And your poem perfectly captures this idea.

I loved the story behind it and the resulting conversation about the Hasidim, too. I think of all the threads on lit-net, yours is the most successful at creating that warm, steamy coffeeshop atmosphere of congeneality with the caffienated energy of conversation and ideas.

For which I thank you, Prince.

Well, you may be sure that the espresso-maker is always on the go and the next cup is waiting... for you!