Hamekhinah (Three-Part Chant)

Based on one of the blessings in Birchot Hashachar.  Getting grounded is something I often need a little extra help with, so I thought this liturgical excerpt would be a good choice 😉

On retroactively convincing myself to go out on my bike on a summer Saturday evening to raid post-yard-sale free piles

Because it’s cooler now,

because I can,

and because last Saturday I found a red fleece body suit and Bachelor Brothers’ Bed & Breakfast.

Because if I take my bike out on a jaunt I will subsequently be more motivated to bring it inside so that it doesn’t get rained on (that’s the real reason),

because it’s not actually as dark as I thought,

because this is the only time when I’ll find myself on Auburn Street for any other reason besides being lost,

because who knew there was this burnt-out building in the middle of town, and who knew it was a music center,

and because my body knows to avoid the hard places, except when it takes me directly to them, like for example, here’s where my ex-girlfriend used to live, and here’s where my never-girlfriend used to live.

Because there’s an easel and it’s free but it won’t fit in my backpack,

because there are too many words in my head and I need to clear them out,

because there DEFINITELY are too many words in my head because that was a huge pothole that I almost just landed in,

because if I go far enough in any direction I will hit the highway,

because not everyone in this town is rich, who knew,
like when my brother and I biked behind the grocery store and found the trailer park and the soggy mattresses by the polluted stream where the homeless people camp, and we biked through silently, and when we biked out I looked at him and he looked at me, and he said, well the fish restaurant wasn’t in there,

and because this is the fourth cat I’ve seen.

Because that car let me have the right-of-way, to take a left turn, in the dark, on my bike,

because that’s free, but it’s an armchair, and won’t fit in my backpack,

because you’d think a mosquito couldn’t hold on when I’m going this fast,

and because that dark thing is the river, let’s not bike into it, folks.

Because I like biking on bridges, one pedal-thrust up the arch, then glide across and down,

because that’s the second pile of free flowerpots that I’ve seen, and they would fit in my backpack, but I need to keep up my reputation as a plant-killer,

because if this is a good neighborhood for foreign-exchange-student-host-family-seeking flyers, probably it’s not a good neighborhood for garage-sale-leftover free piles,

and because when did garage sales start being called yard sales, and why didn’t anyone notify me?

Because I mean I know this town is by a lake, but, I mean, it really smells like lake out here,

because that’s free but it’s a birdfeeder nailed to a two-by-four and come on people, that really can’t fit in my backpack,

because there’s a shopping cart on that corner and people conferring quietly around a pickup truck on that corner, and I know enough not to hesitate, to just keep going,

because that’s my professor’s house, isn’t it, yes it is, no it’s not, yes it is,

because I have to choose between impaling myself with that crabapple branch and impaling those people with my handlebar, easy choice,

because that looks like a free box but actually it’s someone’s recycling,

and because I’m okay with these words wilting and dying in the humidity before they make it inside and onto paper.

Slim pickins tonight.