Poetry Page

The Measuring Cup

by Ada Jill Schneider
from her book, Fine Lines and Other Wrinkles

Balanced on my heart is a cup that measures joy.
When it fills to overflowing – like the night
mmRon turned fifty-four, enveloped
mmin a Marriage Encounter circle
mmof good friends who savored my
mmpoems like white chocolate mousse,
My eyes close to keep the dream moving,
My ears laugh their nine-year-old giggle,
My secret body leaps into a pirouette.
The very walls applaud my happiness.

Balanced on my heart is a cup that measures joy.
When you and Daddy laugh on the phone,
Mama, my gratitude knows no bounds.
I wait for you to say, “I pray to God
mmwe should be talking like this
mmnext year at the same time.
mmMein kindt, if you only knew
mmhow much I love you.”
I know, Mama, I know because my measuring cup
Is overflowing again and I dance my way
Across the kitchen to drop two quarters
In the tzedaka box.

Printed by permission of the author.

Midnight Ping-Pong Match

by Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore

A midnight ping-pong match
is playing among the stars
Atoms careen through space smacked by
invisible paddles
The shadow of the Player Who plays both
sides leans over our hearts
The tick-tock sound of the ping-pong balls
can be heard in our ears among the
singsong of speech and in the
soft darkness of silken silences
But the shadow in our hearts
peers deep inside our souls
and finds inside the same space as the
outer space it finds in space