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Saturday, May 17, 2008

CONFLAGRATION

by Scot Siegel

after Israel's 60th Birthday

One word worth 19 points
but so many other options on the table:

a Ratio: 5
a Ration: 6
a Nation: 5

(nearly a Generation)

and a Flag is 8 in flames...

But tonight, we choose real things:
opt out of the competition

and push
the Scrabble board aside -

I hand my daughter the matches
and fold the napkins

as she steadies the flame
and lights our Shabbat candles -


Scot Siegel is an urban planner and poet from Lake Oswego, Oregon, where he serves on the Lake Oswego City Planning Commission and Board of Trustees for the Friends of William Stafford. His poetry has previously appeared on The New Verse News, The Oregonian, Open Spaces, and Red River Review, among others.
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