KJ Hannah Greenberg

Rockets, not UFOs, fireworks, affable probes,
Fall on kids, babes, lovers, dogs, horses,
Until we say tolerance is overrated.

Matthew’s Akita snarled wide-eyed
After tracking border crossing sights.
Strong, long canine teeth locked as a
Necessary deterrent. Paws compelled
Unwanted bits even as a soldier sat
Atop rubble and watched.

Soldier’s new baby crawls on cement.
That child’s ma funds scholars, bakes
Challah, kindles candles, warms dill-
Laced chicken broth, amidst potato
Kugel trays packed to feed hungry
Yeshiva bucharim.

Rabbi Rosenberg guards hilltops. He
Counts grenades, stones, rocket shells.
At night, he sings Tehillim, bristles at
Heaven for answers. Yet, his outpost
Loses men, women, children, homes,
Repeatedly.

On the sidewalk of a busy street, the
Rav’s uniformed children scamper. No
Fence staves off the delight the youth
Realize when freed from studies. Still,
It’s their dad’s explanation of Talmud
That fuels them.

In states of affairs exemplified by gender (re)interpretation,
By last century’s French Canadians’ linguistic quarrels and
The PLO/ Israeli conflict, incommensurability baffles.

Employing a system of adjudicating uprightness can lead to
Scaffolding communication’s stimuli, necessarily involving
Odd ducks of distinction and similarity.

Perpetuating double-bind messages while confusing cultural
Epistemology shows concrete jargons exposed conveyances;
Exclusivity’s ascription of worth is deadly.

Collusion remains poison as does doxing rhetors since many
Undergalvanized troupes attempt cogent discourse to poison
Status quo limits that bail up denizens.

Our politics unwaveringly vary—we are unlike, incongruous,
Fail to be referenced as “acceptable,” else become impulsive.
Thoughts can serve us as verbal hapkido.

Rather, we must illustrate metatheories, raise questions about
Standards, values, and virtues spent in communication, abide
Semantic’s new airt.

Raising questions about merit’s embodiment invites pondering
Over ideas’ substance, relative to their arrangement, given that
Both utility and parsimony live as persuasion’s helves.

Alternation requires resocialization; dismantling of pelf gangs,
Disintegrating of fierce ukases, equally of most empathy, plus
Altogether rejecting subjective reality’s nomic structures.

Neither antimetaboles nor coercion succeed when we derive “self”
Through scripts or demarcate via dreams, deliberate “revelations,”
Grand hopes, maybe also vfx displays.

In the north, auroras light the sky with flashes of brilliant washes.
Their curtains of hues drape from zenith to horizon, illuminating
Heavens otherwise dark for months.

In those taiga regions, where birch, poplars, also conifers, reach
Heights unequaled, wolverines, wolves, reindeer, ermine, hares
Caribou and lynxes hunt or hide.

The circumpolar tundra, mostly ice and snow with short seasons
Of sunlight, differs from the forests’ realm, where unevaporated
Moisture slicks the summers.

It’s the latter, cold, lonely biome, not the “top of the world” that
Faces away from our star, germinates sprouts scintillating florae,
Offers no steadfast shelter.

Sundry things sit wondrous to behold, quite miraculous, phenomenal,
Mind-blowingly prominent, extraordinary, unbelievable, exceptional,
Plus, astounding, inexplicable in function, incredible in form, equally
Marvelous, “true exemplars” for miscellany.

Contrarywise, the mediocre, the middling, the run-of-the-mill, those
Average, ordinary, hackneyed kits, situate themselves as pedestrian,
As unexceptional, routine, standard, typical, mainstream, or normal,
Else dull, unimaginative, uninspired pastiches.

All the same, generally speaking, life’s not humdrum nor brilliant.
It’s breathtaking as well as banal, alternatively archetypally exotic
Then dreary. Most certainly, goings-on are wont to sequence both
Superb moments and dreadful ones.

In disgracing any rank, namely, all hoary tosh
Proffered by silent peers revealed as stillborn,
Devoid of organic wisdom, lacking any class
Of goodness, whether petal or leaf, bud, even
Branch, boldly, I choose duplicity over bland
Confluence. Dubious insights soften cogency.