"Jerusalem" by Terri Lynn Cummings

Editor’s Note:  Frequent Contributor Terri Lynn Cummings, on a leave of absence since December 2017, returns with a haunting yet humorous narrative poem, “Jerusalem”, based on her own real-life experiences. While I am overjoyed to welcome Terri back, I am sad to announce that past Frequent Contributor Kaitlyn Vaughn, who graciously agreed to cover for Terri, could not be convinced to stay. Kaitlyn still has a few more poems in our publishing queue and will remain on the masthead until the last one is featured.

"Souk" Watercolor & Graphite on Paper
By J. Artemus Gordon

Jerusalem

Terri Lynn Cummings

I arrived in another century

behind old city walls 

where a souk stretched 

its limbs lined with stalls 

filled with carcasses on hooks

brass water pipes

carved camels carrying

salt and pepper shakers

antiquities, real or fake

A pouch of weed

cost one round of sex— 

females preferred, but males

accepted like different

currencies—in the back 

garden with “Uncle” Carmel

draped in white robes, keffiyeh

and with eyes, black… calculating

I purchased water pipes for smokers

shakers for Mother’s kitchen 

a keffiyeh for Father 

who drenched it in cold water

donning it before mowing—

rarities in rural American ‘70’s— 

yet I left Carmel on the stoop

shouting at me to return

I never forgot his polite offer

Arabic Words:

Souk: a marketplace

Keffiyeh:  a male’s headscarf that drapes below the neck

Poet’s Notes:  As an Oklahoma State University student studying anthropology, I was chosen to join a small archaeological team. We spent a summer in Caesarea and excavated part of the Hippodrome where Romans held chariot races. For me, this was a dream realized. Fridays and Saturdays were our “weekends” when we traveled the country: Masada, Dead Sea region, Bethlehem, Sea of Galilee, Jericho, and Tel Aviv, to name a few places. Marvelous stories have survived the years, yet my favorite remains Jerusalem and the colorful Uncle Carmel.