one parcel of cud in the jaw

by Liam Strong

                                                       after Yitzi Hurwitz 

for ritual & non 
                     ritual purposes, i am cloven, split-hoofed, [head  

                                                                               & heart separated from the ground] 
by legs. or a synonym of 
such.  
blank face of the ruminant, a holy & un 
holy cancellation.

                                            [g-d wants us to eat them] 
                                            [g-d forgoes the benefit of consuming negative traits:   
                                                        growth] 
                                            [g-d inputs a kosher sign between my 5th metatarsal &  
                                                        calcaneal pitch] 
the balance of drawing good closer 
          [to the left] where the limb 
is a correct 
length. this depends solely on the viewer, who is rarely me.  
                                                through [&] through. connection to our earth[ly] pursuits    
                                                                involves [constant] effort via: 
                                                                feet
                                                                hands
                                                                mouth, teeth, cheeks, etc
                                                                broken nose
                                                                flayed knees
                                                                right buttock
                                                                idiopathy 
the [coming of] moshiach
          is most likely east or at 

least to my right from here. if there is only [animal] soul in me, there is not enough
                     to gnaw on. hunger often has [nothing] to do with food or cardinal directions.  
                     [when we go against our nature] proximity becomes a discipline. bones
& cartilage & muscle endorse [belief] like the spiral
of an ibex.  
[when] my  
walk turns to dust i won’t [be able to] catch up with the caravan of the dead. which is 
to say that the cripple is not beloved, &  
therefore unclean. 
            g-d does not cure, g-d ends where their intellect ends so then [as it wills] 
even the meat of [lambs.] even them, their hooves carved in equal 
measure. talisman of the up
            right, their signature in the sod. where authenticity begins, at the talus,
            the ankle. where erasure begets 
  censorship, forbidden lineages of flesh. where it  
ends, too. because if i have to trip, then i have to fall.

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