POEM: the Jewish girls are running

Posted 18 April, 2012 in Random Musings

the Jewish girls are running

the Jewish girls are running
long black skirts
fanning out behind them
long dark pony tails
flapping against their
understated sweaters
they’re laughing, these
anachronistic young women
speaking Hebrew
shouting to one another
in voices they’ll soon lose

not far away, their future selves
are pushing strollers
filled with the next generation
mothers with perfect wigs
under knit hats, wearing
the same skirts and sweaters
with some allowance
for the changes of childbirth
they are beautiful
resigned, sad, dutiful
born into a life sentence
with no chance of parole

or so imagines the atheist
who finds it all a bit ridiculous
from his lofty perch
sitting all alone with
a copy of The Stranger
at a concrete chess table
in the park

18 April 2012
Brooklyn NY

/ / /

It’s National Poetry Writing Month! A poem a day, each day in April.

Welcome to jasoncrane.org!

Posted 13 December, 2011 in Random Musings

Hi there! Thanks for visiting jasoncrane.org. This post is always at the top of the site to help you find your way around.

This is primarily a poetry blog. You can scroll down for my latest poems, or select the My Poetry category to get ‘em all. Most of my poems have audio recordings, too, so you can hear as well as read them.

If you’d like a larger selection of performed poetry, please visit the Recorded Readings page, where you’ll find a collection of my featured readings from the past couple years.

Foothills Publishing was kind enough to publish my first book of poems in 2010, Unexpected Sunlight. Get your copy in the store. Makes a great gift, too, particularly for someone of whom you’re not all that fond.

Over on the top right of this page is a navigation menu. Farther down on the right side is a list of categories. Both of these menus will help you find specific content on the site.

I’m quite active on Twitter. You can follow me at @jasondcrane. And you’re always welcome to email me at jason@jasoncrane.org.

That’s it. Enjoy the site!

PHOTO: Dead doll in Brighton Beach

Posted 22 August, 2011 in Random Musings

Click to enlarge

PHOTO: The IP address of the beast

Posted 22 August, 2011 in New York City, Random Musings

Click to enlarge

A friend asked if I’d ever tried online dating…

Posted 20 August, 2011 in Random Musings

…I told her the last time I was dating, there was no such thing as “online.”

POEM: Hanabi

Posted 16 July, 2011 in Random Musings

Hanabi

I’m beginning to suspect New York isn’t real
walking the High Line under a full moon
fireworks booming off the Battery

“people” stop in every shadow
kissing, clinging
breathing each other in

along the way is a hotel with no curtains
where lovers young and old put on a show
for the second-story handholders

I can’t help laughing, struggling
to suspend my disbelief that such a place
(such a night) could exist

in the Hudson are the half-submerged pilings
of long-dead piers, incomplete stories
washed away by the water

we are writing our own story
inscribing it under the full moon
while the fireworks light the Battery sky

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