Poetry Friday: Apples and Honey

Happy Poetry Friday and Shana Tovah! This evening marks the start of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.The greeting "Shana Tovah" means "good year." If you're curious, you can read more about this phrase and the significance of Rosh Hashanah in Jewish culture in this article.It wouldn't be a festival without special foods. Apples and honey (and apples dipped in honey, my favorite) are traditional, because they set our intention for a sweet year ahead.Last week, I baked and froze a round challah for tonight's Shabbat dinner. This is a special shape for the Rosh Hashanah holiday, symbolizing goodness without end. It was my first time braiding a round loaf!

This week, I took a webinar and learned how to make a lemony honey cake. I hope there's some left for dessert tonight. If not, I won't complain about having apple slices and honey.With so much unknown about the year ahead during the pandemic, Marge Piercy's Rosh Hashanah poem struck a chord for me. I love the reminder "putting by of what will sustain them" -- which might be vegetables brought in from the garden, then canned or frozen. But it might also mean making time to bake, read, do yoga, knit -- things that sustain our hearts.Whether or not you are celebrating the New Year today, I hope you enjoy the poem.

The late year

BY MARGE PIERCY

I like Rosh Hashonah late,when the leaves are half burntumber and scarlet, when sunsetmarks the horizon with slow fireand the black silhouettesof migrating birds perchon the wires davening.I like Rosh Hashonah latewhen all living are countingtheir days toward deathor sleep or the putting byof what will sustain them—when the cold whose tendrilstranslucent as a jellyfishand with a hidden stingjust brush our facesat twilight. The threatof frost, a premonitiona warning, a whisperwhose words we cannotyet decipher but will.

Read the rest at the Poetry Foundation.