About rchess

Goodbye There is no word for it in Hebrew, and it’s never used in the Bible except when someone says, "Go towards peace." If I must go or if someone must leave me, I say, "See you later" or "We’ll … Read More

A Just Place [A response to A. R. Ammons' "In Memoriam Mae Noblitt"] There’s no such thing as "just a place": some walk deserts, coil in the tanks of trucks, tear themselves under fences, looking for a just place as … Read More

Cashing In   After he takes out his silver clip of 20 sawbucks and tosses it on the table, my father snoozes on the couch, dreams made of Scotch. My mother slaps the iron with her palm to hear it … Read More

Every action creates its equal, its opposite. But when a black hole puckers time and space, all will fall into its influence. I fell, deep through earth’s center and came out rising on the other side to portion out earth’s … Read More

from Mutable and Immutable[1]   2. Who is he who paralyzes me Who is he who kicks me Who is he Who transforms me Who fascinates me Who raises me Who escorts me with congenial threats Who scratches my back … Read More

Jeremiah at the Outlet Mall  Even the parking lot is a three day walk across, where a man named Harold Hillman has painted his initials around the shadows of the cars. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  Behold!  Only he has left his mark on … Read More

Beit Daniel Guest House, 1994  Question:   What time capsule can I drop here for our baby son who laughs in a February rainstorm in the arms of a woman who speaks no language I know, who leads us through … Read More

(Valent)Lines For A   What law and power has blessed me so that in this provocation of flesh I have been wedded to gentleness? – Delicacy of an intricate mesh of our thought and meals and talking has brought me … Read More

The Beginnings of Ritual   When God intrudes from within A story, as in the ordering Of unleavened bread, bitter Herbs, and the roasted lamb, When God’s telling-about the Seder Delays the Angel of Death And preserves a memory, we … Read More

Atonement There is Betwixt Light and Darkness To be a we, we must include that which we have banished– the transgressor, the excommunicated. Can be neither community or person without our ex–punged, tracted parts down to the smallest part must … Read More