Crossroads Revisited

This is a piece I wrote a number of years ago, inspired by Robert Johnson's "Crossroad Blues" (and Cream/Eric Clapton's updated version) and well as EC's "Let it Grow." I could easily see this being adapted and sung as a blues.

Crossroads Revisited
For Robert Johnson and Eric Clapton
by John W. Leys

Following that time worn trail
Crawling on my hands and knees
Pleading with the Lord above
"Save me if you please"

Arriving at the crossroads
I try to regain my feet
Wondering how I managed
To end up on this side of the street

Pulling myself up on the signpost
Trying hard to read the words
Ignoring the screeching taunts
Of those circling buzzard-birds

I call out for a friend
But no one seems to hear
Falling back to my knees
I'm swallowed by my tears

Run back to town now, boy
Go get my friend, Willie Brown
Tell him I'm still at the crossroads
And that I'm still sinking down.

A Terrible Lonliness

"We have in common a terrible lonliness. Day after day a question goes up desparately in our minds: Are we alone in the wilderness of the self, alone in this silent universe, of which we are a part. and in which we feel at the same time like strangers?

It is such a situation that makes us ready to search for a voice of God in the world of man: the taste of utter lonliness; the discovery that unless God has a voice, the life of the spirit is a freak; that the world without God is a torso; that a soul without faith is a stump."

-Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man

Yeah, I'm Looking at You!

What Is Art?

Pete Townshend has posted the seventh installment of his novella The Boy Who Heard Music. This week Pete has also posted a demo version of the new song "In The Ether," the lyrics to which appeared in Chapter Two: In the Ether, in MP3 format.

UPDATE: Brian in Atlanta has posted his "Cliff Notes" to What is Art?

UPDATE: All the chapters and many of the comments from Pete Townshend's The Boy Who Heard Music blog have been removed from the blogspot site and archived at his main website:

The Boy Who Heard Music

Ballad of a Brain-Dead Poet

I wrote this poem several years ago as a project for a Shakespeare class I was taking as part of my AA Degree. It is based primarily on Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 3, Scene 2, Lines 72-86

Ballad of a Brain Dead Poet
by John W. Leys

You worship her as a Goddess
Believing she can do no wrong
As you tune your sinew strung lute
To compose another ill conceived song

How many sacrifices will you make
Before you’ve had enough?
How much are you willing to lose
Before you finally call her bluff?

You write your little poems
Thriving on the pain
Wondering how I have the nerve
To suggest that you may be insane

Your tears keep your ink moist
And give your poems "integrity"
While your little acts of melodrama
Only serve to frame your stupidity

What will happen to your poems
When your eyes shed their last tear?
When your soul becomes numb to the pain
Then you will really know fear

The ink will start to dry in your pen
You’ll have nothing left to say
She’ll find another willing worshiper
While you quietly fade away.

2-5 September 1997

Ikapikapoo

Pete Townshend has posted the sixth installment of his novella The Boy Who Heard Music. The narrator of the piece is Ray High, the burned out rock star from Pete's Psychoderelict album/radio play. The main characters are Gabriel (the boy of the title), Josh (a Jewish boy who heard voices) and Leila (a Muslim girl who could fly).

UPDATE: Brian in Atlanta has posted his "Cliff Notes" for Ikapikapoo.

UPDATE: All the chapters and many of the comments from Pete Townshend's The Boy Who Heard Music blog have been removed from the blogspot site and archived at his main website:

The Boy Who Heard Music

To Lord Byron, On the Nature of Immortality

This is a piece I wrote a few years ago. It originally appeared in Anne Mott's Byronmania E-journal, Volume II, Number III, December 1999.

---

To Lord Byron, On the Nature of Immortality
by John W. Leys

You wanted to be a hero,
An uncommon want
In a world whose clay footed heroes
Are gleefully toppled by the mob.
A risky ambition
For someone with just one good foot
To stand on in the first place.

But you saw it as a challenge,
In that oddly quixotic way of yours,
Mixed and hidden within the melancholy noble
And shielded by that satirical tongue.
You swam the Hellespont,
Swimming for Glory, as Leander for Love.
You traveled the continent
In search of adventure.
And something more.

Like Juan, you found many legs
Willing to be opened
But nary a heart as willing
To be opened as yours.
More sinned against that sinning
They pigeonholed you
And mistook you for your own caricature.

With two good feet on the ground
You could have been a fearless warrior
Or an adventurous sailor,
Like so many of your infamous kin.
Lord knows they knew nothing but success.

But who would be a poet
Who had anything better to do?
That’s not how heroes are made.
Wars are the hero makers
And that was the one game you just couldn’t play.

That is until Greece called you away
From that last attachment in Italy
To war, leeches, and Death
In the swamps of Missolonghi.
They still call you a hero there today
Naming streets and babies after you
And erecting monuments in the mud
Near to the spot where you expired
Barely aware that you had a life
Before you stepped on their soil

Is "Goy" a slur?

I recently had a discussion with a fellow Jew about the terms "Goy" and "Goyim." He was of the opinion that both of these terms are derogatory slurs and that "Gentile" or "Non-Jew" is the preferred term to be used. Personally I've always thought that "Goy" and "Gentile" were synonyms and have used them interchangeably depending on who I'm talking to. I have heard "Goy" used in a derogatory fashion, but I don't think the word is inherently racist. Just as I have heard "Jew" used as a derogatory slur, but obviously don't think the word itself is a slur.

But I am curious to see what others feel about these terms. Please leave a comment with your opinions.

You Are

You Are
by John W. Leys

You are the song
On the lips
Of the broken heart,
And the light
At the end of the funeral.

You are where the wind is
When it doesn’t blow,
And where snowmen go
In summertime.

You are the thunder
And the fire.
You are the bush that burns
But is not consumed.

You are the structure
That keeps the universe
In order,
And the chaos
That keeps it interesting
And alive.

You are the sound
That the deaf man hears,
The light that the blind see,
And the words of the mute.

You are the dew
On the rose petal
And the boulder
On the moon.

You are everything
That is real,
Everything that is good;
Everything that is not.

You are our divine Lord
You are One.
You are.

DeviantArt JCC

Also at DeviantArt is the DAJCC. Well worth taking a look.

DeviantArt

I recently set up a page at DeviantArt to showcase some of my poetry and other miscellaneos art. You can check it out at:

http://eliyahu5733.deviantart.com/

I Could Fly

Pete Townshend has posted the fifth installment of his novella The Boy Who Heard Music. The narrator of the piece is Ray High, the burned out rock star from Pete's Psychoderelict album/radio play. The main characters are Gabriel (the boy of the title), Josh (a Jewish boy who heard voices) and Leila (a Muslim girl who could fly).

UPDATE: Brian in Atlanta has posted his "Cliff Notes" for I Could Fly.

UPDATE: All the chapters and many of the comments from Pete Townshend's The Boy Who Heard Music blog have been removed from the blogspot site and archived at his main website:

The Boy Who Heard Music

God Has Faith in You

I know I've posted these quotations before, but I feel that thier general theme regarding God's faith in our ability to mend our ways is appropriate for Yom Kippur:

כי־אבי ואמי עזבוני
ויהוה יאספני
תהלים כ״ז:י

"Though my father and mother abandon me,
The Lord will take me in."

- Psalm 27.10

---

"Even if I were so depraved that my own mother and father would abandon me to my own devices, God would still gather me up and believe in my ability to mend my ways."

- Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch
in his commentary on Psalm 27

---

"Well, my daddy, he didn't leave me much, you know he was a very simple man, but what he did tell me was this, he did say, son, he said... he say, you know it's possible to become so defiled in this world that your own father and mother will abandon you and if that happens, God will always believe in your ability to mend your ways."

- Shabtai Zisel ben Avraham v'Rachel Riva, 1991 (Emphasis Mine)

---

May you all be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for a year that is everything you dream it to be!

------

Note: This post contains the name of God. If you print it out, please treat it with the proper respect.

Hebrew in Meher Baba's Universal Prayer

I was recently looking at Meher Baba's "Universal Prayer," which I was first introduced to via Pete Townshend's song "Parvardigar," from the album Who Came First, the lyrics of which were adapted from Meher Baba's prayer. What caught my eye was a section from the end of the prayer:

You are Parabrahma, Allah, Elahi, Yezdan,
Ahuramazda, and God the Beloved.
You are named Ezad — the only One
worthy of worship.

"Elahi" could easily be a transliterated version of אֱלֹהַי ('elohai, "My God"). And, especially given the words following, I am sure that "Ezad" must be some variation of אֶחָד ('echad¹, one). Elahi is certainly meant to be a Hebrew/Jewish name for God, since it follows the Arabic/Muslim "Allah," but I wonder if Ezad is directly taken from Hebrew or if it is sourced from a related semitic language. The wording of that line is somewhat reminicent of the first line of the Sh'ma:

שְמַע יִשְרָאֵל יהוה אֱלֹהֵנוּ יהוה אֱחָד
"Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one."

Any Baba followers or knowledgable linguists who might be able to shed some light upon this should feel free to speak up and add thier thoughts to the comments on this post.

----------------
¹ the "ch" in 'echad should be pronounced as in the Scottish "loch."

No Joy in Mudville (or the Bronx)

Well, the Yankees are officially out of the play-offs. Congratulations to the Angels and their fans. They put up a hell of a fight and deserved the win. I won't say I'm not disappointed that we lost tonight, but I am honestly happy that we made it to the play-offs at all this year. Half-way through the season I was beginning to doubt we'd see any play-off action this year. The guys did a great job bouncing back to snag the Division Title at the last possible moment.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the Yankees in the off-season now. Earlier this year Joe Torre said he would have things to say after the season was over and I have the sinking feeling he may have finally had enough of Steinbrenner's BS. Joe almost retired a year or so ago and I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to do so now. If The Boss knows what's good for him he's do whatever it takes to hold on to Joe and Brian Cashman, both of which did a hell of a job holding the team together through a very rough season. I hope he also takes notice of how underwhelming his high priced players were this year and how good a job the economy classed players and rookies (Chacon, Cano, Small, Lieber, Crosby, et al.) have done this year.

Sadly, this may have been Bernie Williams' last game in a Yankees uniform. Hopefully the team (I'm looking at you George) will treat this 15 year Yankee veteran with the respect he deserves.

See y'all in Spring Training!

Michelangelo's Moses

For some reason I've always loved Michelangelo's Moses (Well, aside from the horns). He just seems to have the determined look that one would expect from Moshe. I don't know, I've never been good at art criticism. I just know I like it.

This post isn't as random as it may seem. Michelangelo's Moses is often on my mind, because he's always staring at me from the back of my desk:

Reading Right-To-Left

One of the first things people say when I tell them that I am learning Hebrew is "Isn't it hard to learn to read right-to-left?" Honestly, it came rather easily to me. For the longest time I wasn't sure why, but I think I've hit upon the answer. The Hebrew letters don't look like they should be read left-to-right, just like the Roman letters don't look like they should read right-to-left. For the most part Roman capitol letters point to or are open to the right, pointing in the direction of the flow of the sentence. Hebrew letters general point or are open to the left, again in the direction the sentence flows. To my eye these letters just don't look like they are meant to go in the other direction.

To illustrate what I mean:

Roman Letters-------------------------------------------->
B-> G-> D-> K-> L-> P-> R->

<------------------------------------Hebrew Letters
ב-> ג-> ד-> כ-> ל-> פ-> ר->־

The Boy Who Heard Music - Cliff Notes

Just a note for those who are reading Pete Townshend's web-novella, The Boy Who Heard Music. Brian in Atlanta has been posting "thumbnail" summeries of each chapter of the novella. I know some have had trouble following the story, so Brian's "cliff notes" might help clear some of it up.

Brian has summeries up for all the existing chapters so far:

• The Boy Who Heard Music - Chapter 1 - Thumbnail
• The Boy Who Heard Music - Chapter 2 - Thumbnail
• The Boy Who Heard Music - Chapter 3 - Thumbnail
• The Boy Who Heard Music - Chapter 4 - Thumbnail

I Heard Voices

Pete Townshend has posted the fourth installment of his novella The Boy Who Heard Music. The narrator of the piece is Ray High, the burned out rock star from Pete's Psychoderelict album/radio play. The main characters are Gabriel (the boy of the title), Josh (a Jewish boy who heard voices) and Leila (a Muslim girl who could--apparently--fly).

UPDATE: All the chapters and many of the comments from Pete Townshend's The Boy Who Heard Music blog have been removed from the blogspot site and archived at his main website:

The Boy Who Heard Music

What is Law?

"We are taught that God gave man not only life but also law. The supreme imperative is not merely to believe in God but to do the will of God... What is law? A way of dealing with the most difficult of all problems: life. The law is a problem to him who thinks that life is a commonplace. The law is an answer to him who knows that life is a problem."

- Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man

Lecture on Abraham ibn Ezra - 7 November @ JTS

I recieved this in my e-mail today & thought I would pass it on for anyone that might be interested:

The Shalom Spiegel Institute
of the
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
announces

Dr. Gad Freudenthal
Visiting Professor of Judaic Studies and History, Yale University
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris
speaking on

Abraham ibn Ezra:
The Wandering Poet-Scientist

Monday
November 7, 2005
3:45 PM

Mendelson Convocation Center
3080 Broadway
New York, NY

Blogger Baseball Scorecard

Check out this post at TBIFOC for a listing of blogger baseball fans and who is rooting for whom in the play-offs.

If nothing else you can solve the mystery of which team I support...

4th Annual Blogger Boobie-Thon for Breast Cancer!

From BoobieThon.com:

October 1, 2005 --Boobies. Although they come in all shapes and sizes (large, small, saggy and perky), they have one thing in common: The ability to develop cancer.

Even though there is no cure yet, the fourth annual Blogger Boobie-Thon is doing its part to make cancer a thing of the past.

From October 1-8, bloggers from across the globe can submit pictures of bare and covered breasts to raise money for breast cancer causes.

Founded in 2002 by Florida blogger Robyn Pollman (www.shutterblog.com,) the Boobie-Thon has grown into a well-known event, raising over $17,000 for breast cancer and blogger-charity causes, with over 1000 people contributing pictures. The event raised $8696 in 2004, with $455 going to a secondary charity: AIDS Rock the Walk. The rest of the donations go to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Featured in Self Magazine’s “Body Confidence Awards” in 2004, both founders and participants are hoping to generate exposure and donations for a worthy cause. In response to Hurricane Katrina, this year donors can choose to donate to either The Red Cross or the Komen Foundation.

Both male and female bloggers can submit pictures of their breasts. The covered boobies are featured on the free area of the site. The price of viewing the bare breasts is $50, made payable to Komen or The Red Cross. A copy of an e-receipt is needed in order to gain the password to the “Not Safe for Work” portion of the site.

We will be happy to assist you in finding participants to fit the angle of your story.

For more information, visit the official website at http://www.boobiethon.com and/or contact Robyn, event coordinator, using this contact form.

As If There Were Any Doubt...

I do clean up rather nicely when I want to:

Though I have been told that this suit makes me look like a circa 1930s Jewish gangster!

!לשנה טובה

I just wanted to take this oportunity to wish everyone a happy Rosh HaShannah. May 5766 be all you wish it to be!

!לשנה טובה
5766

Back Where They Belong

The San Antonio Stockade Blues

This is something I originally wrote close to a decade ago. Its been revised several times since then, though the most recent revision was three or four years ago. Quite different from my more recent work, but I think it stands up suprisingly well all things considered.

The San Antonio Stockade Blues
by John W. Leys

Trapped in a dream
Running naked in the street
When a Swahili speaking hunchback
Knocks me off my feet

He doesn’t even say thank you
When I bite him on the knee
He just goes skippin’ down the runway
Proclaiming that he’s free

A sickly looking camel
Spits on my grave and laughs
Then turns to avoid the villagers
Who just want his autograph.

Dylan’s playing electric banjo
Trying to impress Rimbaud
Why does everyone keep pushin’ him
Back to Desolation Row?

I Heard Music

Pete Townshend has posted the third installment of his novella The Boy Who Heard Music:

UPDATE: All the chapters and many of the comments from Pete Townshend's The Boy Who Heard Music blog have been removed from the blogspot site and archived at his main website:

The Boy Who Heard Music