Mikveh

     There is a cistern

          on the synagogue’s roof

     and a drain pipe in the wall

leading to a small basement pool.

There are two witnesses, a rabbi

    and one not-yet-Jew.

       They are all women.

                  No one feigns modesty.

The convert waits

       naked and trimmed,

              no minerals on the skin,

     shadow down the drain.

              There is no magic in plain water.

All the exile of the world

             comes from the back of the tongue.

      Give a palate enough dirt

                       and it will soil on its own.

    The choke of someone unused

                 to eating dirt

                     is quieter than it should be.

        However loud, there is no one around.

                         Maybe there is an ancestor to listen.

     Certainly somewhere is a child

     who would not recognize this building

           unless it were on fire.

Learning to read from engravings

             on blackened stones,

what would you do

    when presented a book?

Do not mistake the rabbi

      for the one who condemns.

  Damnation is often

                             a personal choice.

          Witnesses turn toward the empty pool,

the convert curls her toes.

     She may think this drowning

is all that’s left

          but there is no magic

   in plain water.

        This is a ritual

                        not a spell.

                 The words

                    are less important:

          “Ghetto was first our island.

         When we entered the ocean,

                    whether to bathe

                      or to drown,

   we always knew which shore

      we’d wash up on.

“We taught our children

    to tuck stars under their shirts.

         Our god let the slaves die

    in the desert

              and we called it mercy.

         We only fell in love

     with those who knew

        how to run.”

She doesn’t look up,

         doesn’t nod,

               takes the smooth steps

         into the pool

           and pauses to breathe

                before pulling her hair under

       and lifting her feet

         so it’s water only

                           all around.