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God says the price of freedom is blood
in the water and plague in the home and livestock
laying dead in the field and boils
on skin and frogs running wild and pestilence
locusts that herald a wave of famine
and cover the skies with hail and fire
and strangle their days with darkness.
And …
T
I mentioned the Black Death to a small handful of people during this contemporary plague we’re experiencing—which isn’t much variation from the 15 years before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those who know me best understand I’ve lived my adult life *desperately* waiting for opportunities to discuss the Black Death (and the Wars of the Roses and …
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a poem by Suzanne Musin
Maybe my soul remembers.
I sit at the table in Egypt
and so will my daughters and so will theirs
and so will I, this year, alone.
Maybe it’s my blood that remembers
the blood of a sacrificial lamb
that marks our doorposts, trusting
the Angel of Death will pass …
P
a sonnet by Suzanne Musin
The blue and blue, the violet-black, the sea
flies underneath a veil of foamy white
and ripples under, over, into me.
I breathe it in and wallow in the sight.
I cannot write a proper shade of blue
or stretched horizons hiding every land
The pattern on the water, always …
H
I love Turkish rugs and high-quality rugs in general. I have two Uzbekistani rugs I bought years ago and they are two of my favorite possessions. On this trip, I knew I’d be stopping by Turkey and the one major thing I reserved a budget for, of the whole trip, was a hand-woven Turkish rug.…
P
a poem by Suzanne Musin
The rabbis claim ten plagues, or forty,
two hundred, or more.
I killed a locust myself in the kitchen,
wondering what it meant. Did the locust come
to protect me or am I the one cursed?
We are walking out of Egypt now
and the dough cooked without rising.
Five …
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A random tourist turned to me today, asking, “Where are we?” Thus started the most satisfying encounter of my entire trip.
I blinked. “We’re at the Largo di Torre Argentina.”
I love how this ancient, sacred place is randomly in the middle of a busy Roman piazza filled with modern life (and lots of cats, …
Today Ariella and I had lunch at Franchuk to celebrate her birthday from last week. Excellent French toast, btw. So there we were, Ariella sipping her sachlav, me sipping my ice cafe—two super Israeli drinks—and we hear Jingle Bells playing in the mall.
It was the first time I’d heard Christmas songs in the mall …
I
“Are you married?” this random middle-aged dude we just met in the town square at midnight asked Shoshana as I walked up with our water.
She informed him she was. He looked at me expectantly.
“I’m not,” I said, politely playing my role.
“I may have a shidduch for you,” he told me. A shidduch …
R
I have the good fortune of a friend’s assistance this Passover in ridding myself of all chametz ownership.
Jes, thank you from the depths of my heart for being a True Friend™ and assisting me in leveling up re: spiritual purity and righteousness. You are, as always and in all things, a model of virtue.…
P
a sonnet by Suzanne Musin
Now every night, a thousand creatures fly
From here to there, tonight and night before
So angry that the glass would still deny
Their infiltration through the sliding door
But no! Inside, the terror has begun
As single, flying trespasser appears
In ignorance, believes its victory won
Full breach accomplished; …
I
A friend asked me today if I had sent her a spam email from this address: suzanne.musin854@mipt.ru
No. I did not. Russian spam spies!! Impersonators!! Do not trust. And I’d like to take this opportunity to say to my Russian doppleganger:
1) I am so excited for you because for a brief moment in your …
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I was watching a documentary on the princes in the tower where Tony Robinson claimed that Richard III might have been right to dispute Edward IV’s legitimacy because of this reason and that reason.
He said that if it was true that Edward was illegitimate, Richard III was the last legitimate monarch of England as …
C
I am too negligent a piano player to ever acquire advanced skills, so I am forever and always at a solidly intermediate stage. Anyone listening would rate it roughly at the level of “tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me”.
That said, I have an immense passion for piano and take a …
F
Ladies and gentlemen of the Facebook society, I regret to inform you that the world has allowed unscrupulous cotton swabs into the Italian supermarket.
Yesterday I purchased these unassuming creatures from the shelf and, in full expectation of a productive relationship, exchanged cash money for their services.
When I took them home and attempted to …
I
An unholy battle commenced today with a fruit fly, perniciously smuggled in with the bananas last night in my grocery delivery.
All day I yelled and cursed at it and attempted, over and over, to smash its life into oblivion.
It skittered away, this way and that, weaving itself through the air, taunting me with …
