R.I.P. iPod

My iPod died a crunchy death yesterday morning, after I tried to sink it for the very last time. Unfortunately, I hadn't realized that the unnatural noises coming from my tiny machine were akin to its last-gasping-breaths and when I tried to revive it on the #64 bus, it just flashed the apple sign a couple of times before I was confronted by the blank screen.

'Sniff

I finished another week at school and have decided to drop Poetry. After I spent 7 hours constructing my first poem, and another 3 doing the homework assignment this week, I've decided I just don't have the verbal prowess to handle the art form. I'm a prose girl - period. But, I'm a firm believer in letting the critics decide. And so, I'm including the three poems I've written during the past two weeks.

Assignment #1 - write a poem describing a landscape that reflects your inner state of emotions.

The Ghost Flower
Nestled within the tract of desert date trees
stands stout and spirited
the lone Ghost flower
sheltered from the sun
by sinewy palm fronds.
Translucent alabaster petals mature,
surrounded by the sweet russet fruits,
struggling to absorb
the essence of the disparate species.

Assignment #2 - free associate to the word yellow and then select 5 words and construct a poem

Sunny Snow
His furry belly warms
the ice as he lifts
his leg to pee.

Staining the pristine snow
the cheery color of a school bus
on a hot, hazy day.

Assignment #3 - use words embedded within each other to write a poem. The structure of the poem is 6 three line stanzas where each sentence takes the end rhyme from a single word.

The Legend of Brother Ted
Sister Therese tried for a moment to suspend her disbelief
In Ed's staunch belief
That the Universe was created from a leaf

She countered with the omnipresent
Handing him this knowledge like a present
That she preached was Heaven sent

But Ed couldn't be swayed, he wouldn't even blink
To the proof of the omnipotent - the link
to the Bible that Sister Therese had right there in ink!

Through his hair, his frustrating fingers brushed
Aside the doubts. While Sister Therese refused to be rushed
from their debating forum in the old shed

She told the tale of how the Lord placed
the heavens and the earth. The details weren't laced
with any embellishments, which appealed to Ed

Listening to her Gospel, his soul was uplifted
And he changed his ways. To the monastery he floated as if lifted
His story soon to be known as the Legend of Brother Ted.

Now y'all know why I'm leaving poetry behind and switching to Jewish American Literature. It's upsetting because I was looking forward to delving into works by Rilke, Neruda and Rich but I bought the reader and will just get into these poems on my own.

Anyway, Cousin Neil is going to be on deck in a few weeks as I continue my Medieval Jewish Philosophy course. I am really fascinated with this course and think Professor Harvey is an extremely thorough teacher. Today we discussed the differences between theology and philosophy. He quoted Harry A Wolfson as saying that Medieval philosophy begins with Philo and ends with Spinoza. I had heard of Spinoza, obviously, but never really knew what he stood for. I'm really looking forward to delving into texts by Rambam, R' Saadya Gaon, Spinoza, etc. I felt a little cheated actually that in all of my years of Yeshiva education, I never had any Jewish Philosophy courses. Personally, I would have much preferred to learn a little bit about Spinoza then the laws of Taharat Hamishpacha in 12th grade. Clearly the latter isn't applicable for me, at this stage of the game. And some strong Jewish philosophy knowledge could have helped me through a lot of those "questioning 20's".

So tonight, I'm working on a couple of new short stories. I need to complete one for workshopping by the 21st and I'm torn between The Virgin Pact story and this untitled one I'm working on that should be really interesting once I'm done writing it.

Oh, Bracha and Yotam are here and last night we hung out for tea and coffee at the marina in Herzliya. First of all, I love to be sitting on the water, sipping tea, and just catching up with good friends. If I could have been in scrubs and a sweatshirt, I would have been even happier but this was pretty close! I met her friends Edit, Kootie and Ohad. Today Bracha had an all day photo shoot for her debut CD album and some rehearsals for next week's concerts. I'm hoping to go to the one on the 8th but it will all depend on Ohad, since he's the one that lives closest to me here in Tel Aviv and he'll hopefully be the driver :)

OK, I'm off to get some quality writing done. Song of the night is Bang Bang You're Dead by Dirty Pretty Things, a great band that's getting plenty of airplay on XFM!