by James B. Rosenberg
I don’t keep my cell phone on
If I can help it.
I don’t want to stay connected with this world,
At least not all the time.
I want to celebrate myself, like old Walt,
I want to sing my old body electric,
To nurture my inner space by keeping away from My Space,
To perfect the song of myself by refusing to twitter on Twitter.
I have no friends on Face Book
Because I prefer to face my own books,
To be resolutely un-friended,
To be free to drink at my chosen times
From those who have come before me,
Who have fought hard, who have thought hard
In the deep and silent waters of their own souls,
Who even in death continue to breathe fresh air
Unsmogged by the falsehood of their thousand closest friends.
James B. Rosenberg is rabbi emeritus of Temple Habonim in Barrington, R.I., having served the community for 33 years. In the fall of 2007 Rabbi Rosenberg completed a ten-year term as Poetry Editor of the CCAR Journal of Reform Judaism.
_____________________________________________________