Fragments of language and story extracted from the body

~by Temim Fruchter

Salt

“Leah’s deep distress at her fate [marrying Esau] results in her crying so much that she makes her eyes weak from tears. According to some, she cries until her eyelashes drop from her lids.” – The Lost Matriarch: Finding Leah in the Bible and Midrash, Jerry Rabow

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Oh, how she loved. Loved Jacob until she was red-rimmed, weak-eyed, a yarn of felled lashes. She loved from hot membrane, from thick voice, from pillowed cheeks. She loved an echo. She loved by heart.

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Ladies in sacks, ladies in silks, the quiet crowding and uncrowding of the market gates. Filter in and filter out, the fat roots and the round grapes and the proud bouquets of greens. It’s funny, these moments out walking when you harbor a secret, an ocean, a second skin right beneath the first, a membrane made entirely of salt. Continue reading →