"On the Second Night of Chanukah" by Risa Denenberg

On the Second Night of Chanukah


my Mama
mother’s I
birthday know

&
I
my can
father’s add
yahrzeit nothing

I’ve &
kindled nothing
two will
thin be
candles
God

with I
a must
third tell
you
I
pretend I
to don’t
feel believe
fondness in

but Mama
it’s
blasphemy Daddy

I I
don’t tell
believe you
in nothing

Rituals God

only only
duty duty

Risa Denenberg

Risa Denenberg lives on the Olympic peninsula in Washington state, where she works as a nurse practitioner. She is a co-founder and editor at Headmistress Press, publisher of LBT poetry. She has published three chapbooks and three full-length collections of poetry: Mean Distance from the Sun (Aldrich Press, 2013), Whirlwind @ Lesbos (Headmistress Press, 2016), and slight faith (MoonPath Press, 2018).

Photo Credit: Staff