Tashlich: Poem by Miriam Sagan

After Rosh Hashanah, Jews cast bread crumbs into a body of living water where the bits can be eaten by fish. The participants symbolically cast off their sins this way, while reciting prayers of repentance.

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Tashlich, 5781

in the waterless river
still there are fish
that will swallow
the crumbs of regret
I toss from the loaf

some call it sin,
the poorly done, the undone,
of these
self-hatred
is the worst

every driver’s lips
are moving
in the traffic
on Cerrillos Road
in the city
of the Sacred Faith
we pray in our cars
while maneuvering
angrily, carelessly
without precision
in our turns

I used to pray
let me
understand
the question—
what anyone
is actually asking of me

now I just
pray for rain.