The Gallery: Poetry
LIGHT, Hannah Park
A Note from the Artist: This is a piece about finding myself and community in Judaism post 10/7.
About the Artist: Hannah is an aspiring author, baker, and lover of life. Her goal is to sprinkle Jewish joy where ever she goes.
BREATHING IN A SYNAGOGUE, Skyler Bonolo
A Note from the Artist: Inspired by rising waves of antisemitism, these poems are attempts at turning my fears into Jewish hope and resilience.
About the Artist: Skyler Bonolo is a Jewish artist & poet based in NYC.
UNTITLED, Devon Spier
A Note from the Artist: I am inspired by the courage and resilience of the Jewish People across time and space and our collective ocean of beauty, safety, embracement and change. Our oceans of compassion and meaning, like our Torah, nourish each other and the whole world.
About the Artist: Devon Spier is a bestselling poet & digital theologian. With bottomless loving-kindness, she welcomes you, just as you are, celebrating what is utterly Jewish and undeniably human.
WALKING PAST THE PROTEST, Skyler Bonolo
A Note from the Artist: Inspired by rising waves of antisemitism, these poems are attempts at turning my fears into Jewish hope and resilience.
About the Artist: Skyler Bonolo is a queer Jewish artist & poet based in NYC.
CONVERSATION WITH A BACKSEAT PASSENGER, Matthew Goldberg
A Note from the Artist: How long should we spend mourning? It's a question without a logically deductible answer. A pure rationalist might say, "However long feels right to you." But what if we feel like mourning forever? What then? It's in moments like these where the value of our Jewish tradition really shines the brightest and provides a path forward like nothing else.
About the Artist: A writer from the Boston area, Matthew Goldberg is the author of an unpublished Sukkot-themed novella, as well as an unpublished chapbook of poetry. His work has appeared in the Jewish Book Council's Paper Brigade Daily, Hatikvah Magazine, and The Federalist.
LET US BE 12.22.24, Hanna Yerushalmi
A Note from the Artist: I wrote is with hope that one day we will be allowed to live in peace.
About the Artist: Rabbi Hanna Yerushalmi is the author of two books of poetry written since October 7th: A Strip of Land and October Shiva. She is also a a licensed professional counselor and works with couples around issues of intimacy. Currently, Hanna lives in Annapolis and together with her husband, is raising four young adults.
ABOUT SUFFERING THEY WERE NEVER WRONG, Elizabeth Rosner
A Note from the Artist: In this poem about resilience, I am speaking to myself as well as to others who might need reminding too. My title comes from the first line of a poem from 1938 by W.H. Auden, entitled "Musée des Beaux Arts."
About the Artist: Elizabeth Rosner is an author and teacher whose work focuses on the redemptive power of storytelling and deep listening. Her six books have been translated into twelve languages and have received literary prizes in the US and abroad. Her most recent book, THIRD EAR: Reflections on the Art and Science of Listening, blends personal stories of growing up in a multilingual household with multidisciplinary research about sound and silence in the natural world. Her previous book, SURVIVOR CAFÉ: The Legacy of Trauma and the Labyrinth of Memory, was a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award, and her first novel, THE SPEED OF LIGHT, won Hadassah Magazine’s Ribalow Prize in 2002, judged by Elie Wiesel. Elizabeth leads writing workshops internationally; her teaching carries forward a message of perseverance and tenacious optimism.
SIGNS OF HOPE, Carly Sachs
A note from the artist: This poem was a surprise. It emerged on a walk on an unseasonably warm-ish day. I've also realized in reading through many of my poems, that the word hope appears way more often than I thought, proving that despite these times we're living in, something inside of me is turning towards something more beautiful.
About the artist: Carly Sachs is the author of the steam sequence (Washington Writers’ Publishing House 2006) and Descendants of Eve (Blue Lyra Press, 2020). She is the editor of The Why and Later (Deep Cleveland Press, 2007), a collection of poems about rape and assault. Her poems and stories have been included in The Best American Poetry series and read on NPR’s Selected Shorts. Recent work has appeared in the Jewish Book Council’s Witnessing series, the Mid-Atlantic Review, Three Fold, the At the Well blog, and the Earth Etudes for Elul project.
A PREMONITION, Harriet Levin
A Note from the Artist: My piece is about the earth itself seeking renewel
About the Artist: Harriet Levin's three books of poetry have received awards from Barnard New Women Poets, The Poetry Society of America, Nimrod International Journal, and The Ellen LaForge Memorial Foundation and the Stein Family Foundation. She is also the author of a novel, How Fast Can You Run, a Novel Based on the Life of Lost Boy of Sudan Michael Majok Kuch, originally excerpted in The Kenyon Review.
THIS IS A HOCKEY POEM, Jarod Guillette
About the Artist: Jarod Guillette is a jew that plays hockey and writes poems and fiction about jews playing hockey.
WINTER OF ‘24,Talya Jankovits
A Note from the Artist: This poem was written the first winter after October 7th, in which the solitude and destitution of winter felt less metaphorical and far more literal. I wrote this poem at a time in which I was searching for hope, aching to shed a painful exoskeleton and this idea of a spring as rebirth for the human mind, body and spirit lent its way into this poem.
About the Artist: Talya Jankovits is an award-winning writer. Her essays, fiction, and poetry have appeared in many publications. Her poetry collection, girl woman wife mother (Kelsay Books, 2024) received First Place in Contemporary Poetry in the 2024 Bookfest Awards. She holds her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University and resides in Chicago with her husband and four daughters. To read more of her work you can visit her at www.talyajankovits.com
THE PLATTER, Michel Steven Kruger
A Note from the Artist: This poem was written the night of the first Seder. This is the second Pesach after 10/7 and the poignancy of the Holiday is not lost as the Hostages must dream of their next Seders with family.
About the Artist: Michel Steven Krug is the author of the poetry book Jazz at the International Festival of Despair, published by Broadstone Books. He's published widely in literary magazines in the U.S. and Israel.
