Tablets, Take One: Addendum
A poem by Patty Seyburn
Let me tell you what the other ark looks like.
No, not acacia wood and gold like the first one.
No cherubim.
It was not made by Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur.
It did not travel 2000 cubits ahead of the nation.
It did not burn snakes and scorpions in our way.
It was not accompanied by clouds, a pillar of fire or incense.
It was accompanied by me.
The other ark is light – not as in not heavy – it is made
of light. You can see through it.
It renders the tablets invisible.
God assures me they are there.
When I touch the light, I become light.
My family looks back, calls my name.
Patty Seyburn is a writer of poems and professor at California State University Long Beach. Her captivating style plunges readers into inquisitive passions and she views poetry as a vehicle to embrace the struggle of faith.
Read Threshold Delivery, Perfecta, Hilarity, Mechanical Cluster, or Diasporadic today.
Patty Seyburn has previously published five collections of poems: Threshold Delivery (Finishing Line Press, 2019); Perfecta (What Books Press, Glass Table Collective, 2014); Hilarity, (New Issues Press, 2009), Mechanical Cluster (Ohio State University Press, 2002) and Diasporadic (Helicon Nine Editions, 1998). She earned a BS and an MS in Journalism from Northwestern University, an MFA in Poetry from University of California, Irvine, and a Ph.D. in Poetry and Literature from the University of Houston. She is a professor at California State University, Long Beach.
