The Beginning in My Hands
by Karen Neuberg
I’m invited to ride a bandicoot rat
on the way to getting what I want.
A wildness taps me on the shoulder
and whispers remember me.
A beginning not yet begun sings into my ears
your remaining years should not be wasted.
I pass through the Plain of Mars and arrive
at the Mount of Venus where Ganesh is about
to show me how to remove obstacles
I’ve placed along my path. How shall I design
my footwear? Should I wear a cloak, carry a dagger?
Ganesh is holding sweets and offers one to me.
It expands in my mouth, fills my mouth,
tumbles from my mouth in promiscuous lines
that cavort into letters, letters into words.
I’m guided into the timelessness that is
creation happening. It is all present. It is beginning
and beyond. I go with it and it goes with me.
My palms face each other and tingle with the Chi
of the galaxy turning, turning between them.
Karen Neuberg is a Brooklyn, NY,-based poet. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Black Moon, Constellate Literary Journal, Nixes Mate Review, and Verse Daily. She is the author of the full-length poetry collection, PURSUIT (Kelsay Press, 2019) and the chapbook, the elephants are asking (Glass Lyre, 2017). She holds an MFA from the New School and is associate editor of the online poetry journal First Literary Review-East.
