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      • IF YOU WERE ALL WATER by M. Ann Reed
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      • ENDNOTES FOR AN ALLOCUTION by Peter Freund
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      • MEMORANDUM ON DESIRE by Laylage Courie
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      • AT THE MAD HATTER-MARCH HARE ART GALLERY (and other poems) by M. Ann Reed
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      • YIELD LIGHT OF WAY by Ken Goodman
      • SEVEN TALES by Sara Streett
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      • SOFA, SO GOOD, SORT OF by Remy Ngamije
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      • STAMPING THE DEAD by Habib Mohana
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        • BLACK ROSES by Osamase Ekhator
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        • MENAGE A TROIS, WITH HORSE by Don Dussault
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Back to AZURE (July/August 2015)

The Trials of Tobit

By Joseph Lisowski
Picture

DIVISION/PRELUDE

I am Tobit.
My father is called "God is Good,"
my grandfather, "God is Merciful."
How can I not be blessed?

I have a story, even a song—it rises
like evening smoke—the crackle 
of roasted lamb turning on the spit—gentle
wind, a ticking of grains of sand
brushing cheek, forehead, tip of tongue.

My story, of course, is of family--
Of how I do and do not belong.
 
***
 
ORIGINS

When my father died, 
he left me an orphan.
I offered first fruits,
first shearings of my sheep,
firstlings of my flock
to no avail.  
The priests took my tithes, 
drank my wine, ate
my figs, pomegranates—my
brothers ate the food of heathens.
I reaped the wind.

Changes occurred. I married.
Roads became unsafe.
A new king flogged
the desert, overturning stones--
the dead had no place to rest.
I listened long to their conversations.
And then girded my loins.

***

EXCESS

Everywhere I turn the dead lay.
a feast for insects, vermin, 
some ignored, stiff as leather.
I return at night, shovel in hand,
wildly displace sand.
The bodies sink to a level of light
becoming dark, night.
Enough of a crypt for passage.

The king hears of my treachery,
clangs the death-knell, 
begins confiscating my land, furniture, food,
servants, clothes, precious gems, all
but my wife and son.
I flee on a manna wind
where locusts are sweet, plenty.

The king dies at the hands of his sons, 
who now scour the desert, 
looking for me
seeking solace from one
whose father has died.

 ***

 LEGACY

Patricides are forever lost.
A new king reigns—I'm 
welcomed back, reunited 
with wife and son. 

At the feast of weeks, 
fifty days from Passover,
I am feted with sweetest meats,
wine, bread, fruits.
I send my son to find a poor man,
someone to share our wealth.
He returns alarmed—"Father, one 
of our people has been murdered.  
He lies in the marketplace
where he had been strangled."

I rush out, gather the body,
take him home, to my room
to wait for night and burial.
I wash and with sadness return to 
the empty banquet hall.
I think of the prophet Amos, widely heralded
As the prophet of love who said,
"Your festivals shall be turned into mourning
and all your songs into lamentation."

My son is gone.
I weep.  At sunset, I will go out
and dig a grave, bury my guest.
 
***

 SLEEP OF THE JUST

"What is wrong with you!" my neighbors
complain.  "For this, you were hunted down,
almost executed.  For this you escaped?
To bury the dead again?"

It is hot. I am tired.
What is done is done.
I doze, my face uncovered.

I wake easy from a sleep of the just,
my eyes heavy, I think, with sand.
No, my wife says.  Bird droppings have 
Filled my eyes.  She takes me 
to doctors.  Their salves
seal my vision.  My kinsmen
stay a while, but then none remain.

My wife goes out looking for work.
 
***
 
WOMAN'S WORK

My wife weaves, “the kind of work
women do.”  The owners
are always pleased; they pay
well, more than feels right.

One night she brings
a young goat back with her.
"Return this," I demand.  "Why
are you now a thief!"
"A bonus, a bonus!" she insists.

A bone, a bone is what I hear.
And with this I must contend.
"See, Your true character
is finally showing itself!" she screams.
 
***

 LIKE A PEACOCK

I hate this life,
the parts I play,
now begging God
with praise to do my bidding, 
to take away my life
or the insults of  others.

How dumb do I think he is?
my sincerity sweet
As undigested cud.
How dumb does he think
I am to pray so transparently?

When I lost sight,
I lost vision.
Courage, too.
Shamelessly, I preen
like a peacock, flaunting
my humility.
 
***

 THE FOLLY OF PRIVILEGE

I am a rich man,
treasured in another country.
I have hidden wealth
that my son must retrieve.

He must hire a guide—his spirit
is young, judgment not quite
of a piece—a man tested, unbroken,
a true kinsman, loyal friend
to love not money.
Who but an angel?

It must be "God who heals."
 
***

 GOOD FORTUNE

Raphael broods like high mountain fire,
licks grass, sticks, embers to rise
merely a tenth of an inch,
the precise distance between heaven and earth.
Barely enough to ignite imagination.  

He agrees to serve Tobiah, luckless son
Of a blind prophet born of shadows, snakes.
 
***

 AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT

A boy and his dog leave home,
Followed by the angel.
The travelers walk until nightfall
and make camp at the Tigris River
where the boy washes his feet.

A large fish suddenly leaps
from the water, tries to swallow his foot.
The angel tells him to seize the fish,
which he does and hauls upon shore.
"Cut the fish open and take out
its gall, heart, and liver.  Keep them
with you but throw away the entrails."

The boy does as bid.  "But why?" he asks.
"Burn heart and liver—its smoke purges any demons 
nearby, banishes them forever.  Gall, when rubbed
on the eyes of a man with cataracts, restores sight.
Believe and obey.  Trust and obey."

And the boy, nothing but his father's son, obeys.
 
***

 A MATTER OF HOPE

The boy marries a girl
and her secrets, which
he only partially understands.
First marriages are always
a matter of  hope.

Hers is a lovely story,
left for another time.
 
***

 UNKNOWN HEART-ACHE

It's a dream world,
fancy fed, love directed,
if the boy charmed, blessed,
follows good advice, respects
elders and angels.

It is easy for him to obey.
Great wealth, ease is promised.
He is not tempted to turn away.
Darkness has no appeal. 
Death holds no beguiling veil,
which he is driven to lift.

And women are nothing to fear.
 
***

 AT END, A BEGINNING

He enters her arms
And does not die.
Earlier, he prepared a spell
to cast out her death demon.
His life in balance, no tremors,
no fears, he believes himself safe.
And so he is.

A boy who lives by faith
or one that gives little thought?
Perhaps he is the son
as imagined by the father--
easy, ready, unable to break.

Joseph Lisowski was Professor of English at the University of the Virgin Islands and at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina. Some poetry chapbooks include Stashu Kapinski Strikes Out (Rank Stranger Press), Fatherhood at Fifty (Tamafyhr Mountain Poetry), Sketches of an Island Life (dpi press), Art Lessons (Tamafyhr Mountain Poetry), Letters to Wang Wei (Pudding House Press), and Stashu Kapinski Looks for Love (erbacce-press, UK). 

After growing up under the shadow of Heppenstall Steel Mill in Pittsburgh, Pa., Joseph Lisowski has spent much of his life near the sea, including 10 years in the Caribbean, which serves as the setting for his three published mystery novels, FULL BODY RUB, LOOKING FOR LISA, and LOOKING FOR LAUREN. 

Joseph Lisowski won the University of North Carolina Board of Governors Teacher of the Year Award (2013-2014). His most recent poetry book publications are STASHU KAPINSKI DREAMS OF GLORY (full length, Sweatshoppe Publications, 2013) and BLUE SEASON (with Steve Klepetar, chapbook, mgv2>publishing, 2013).

Back to AZURE (July/August 2015)
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  • ABOUT
    • Our Literary Aesthetic
    • Staff >
      • Writings by Sakina B. Fakhri
    • Contact Us
    • SUBSCRIBE
  • CONTESTS
  • AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought
    • AZURE Volume 8 >
      • PRACTICAL MEDICAL ADVICE FOR FEMALE SUBJECTS OF THE CAPE COLONY by Karen Jennings
      • PLAN B and others by M.B. McLatchey
      • IDIOSYNCRATIC ICONS: A MANIFESTO by Richard Collins
      • THE DARDANELLES (HERO AND LEANDER AT 60) by Greg Sendi
      • AN APPRECIATION OF THE SCHOLAR, ADALBERT by Vincent Mannings
      • ONE PARTING, YIELDING LINE by M. Ann Reed
      • THE RIVER FISHER'S DAUGHTER by Kirk Marshall
      • BEYOND THE GREAT HORIZON WALL by Kenny Kuhn
      • BLOOM by Michael Gessner
      • SOMETHING, I KNOW NOT WHAT by Ray Corvi
      • OF BUTLERS AND SPIES by Austin Barnes
      • WHAT THE FIRST GOD SPOKE I THINK WAS SUN by Richard Hague
      • SEELENKNARREN by Lorenz Poeschl
    • AZURE Volume 7, Issue 3 >
      • DECEMBER 25, 2022 by Aletha Irby
      • A SUMMARY OF 'A BRIEF HISTORY OF NASOCARPIA' by Peter Arscott
      • CARRYING CAPACITY by Charles Byrne
      • THE MUNE MONOLOGUES by Thomas Townsley
    • AZURE Volume 7, Issue 2 >
      • VARIATION ON A THEME & POSE POEM by Norman Minnick
      • THE MAP OF YOUR HANDS UNFOLDS A DOVE by Vikki C.
      • HISTORIES OF THE BEARD by Richard Hague
      • ILLUSTRATED COMMENTS ON THE APOPHATAPATAPHYSICAL METRICS OF COSMIC HUMOR by edo strannikov
    • AZURE Volume 7, Issue 1 >
      • ORANGES by John Moody
      • THE LACONIA by Wendy Webb
      • BREATH OF THE TEXT by Jeremiah Cassar Scalia
    • AZURE Volume 6, Issue 4 >
      • TO THOSE FOUND DEAD IN CHIMNEYS by R.W. Plym
      • WHAT TO EXPECT OF LIFE by Steven G. Kellman
      • IF IT WERE DRAWN by Jessica Reed
      • BLOOD IN THE ORCHIDS by Amanda Kotch
      • CORNELIUS RADHOPPER by Peter Arscott
    • AZURE Volume 6, Issue 3 >
      • ANIMAL INHERITANCE by akhir ali
      • THAT DUDE DERRIDA by Daniel Klawitter
      • FLAT-EARTH FRED by Phil Gallos
      • THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING SEMICOLON by Orana Loren
      • MY BALDERDASHERY by Eric Paul Shaffer
    • AZURE Volume 6, Issue 2 >
      • MIRROR by Joshua Kepfer
      • CUE FALLING PIANO by D.C. Weaver
      • ANTON AND THE ECHO by Cristina Otero
      • THAT WHICH WE TRULY DON'T KNOW by JOACHIM GLAGE
      • CONGRATULATIONS by Alan Sincic
    • AZURE Volume 6, Issue 1 >
      • NEVER, NEVER LAND, MY SHIP by Mark Pearce
      • THE SMILE OF MONA LISA by Fatima Ijaz
      • OUROBOROS by Esme Sammons
      • THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA by Margaret D. Stetz
      • SNICKER-SNACK by Bruce Meyer
    • AZURE Volume 5, Issue 4 >
      • THE OWLET AND THE TURTLE by Greg Sendi
      • BRACTS and other poems by Nathaniel Calhoun
      • ANSWERS TO NON-EXISTENT QUESTIONS and other poems by Kevin Griffith
      • NEVERENDING KNOT by Jodie Dalgleish
      • LEARNING TO WALK by Jodie Dalgleish
      • OVERSOUL by P.S. Lutz
    • AZURE Volume 5, Issue 3 >
      • MAP OF MEMORY by Jesse Schotter
      • BISMILLAH by Abby Minor
      • MICROMORTS by Veronica Tang
      • LOVE LETTER TO LANGUAGE: AN ABECEDARIAN by Saramanda Swigart
      • IF YOU WERE ALL WATER by M. Ann Reed
    • AZURE Volume 5, Issue 2 >
      • CONTRA FORMALISME by Leland Seese
      • DRUNKEN MAN ON A BICYCLE by Dan Butterworth
      • WOLF TICKETS THROUGH THE FERAL WINTER by Kirk Marshall
      • SYLVANUS, BARD by Marc Lerner
      • THE LOOKING GLASS OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM by Frank Meola
    • AZURE Volume 5, Issue 1 >
      • INTIMATE THINGS by Laylage Courie
      • A SERIES OF PUNCTUATION by Hajar Hussaini
      • ROT AND GLORIANA by Laurel Miram
      • BLUES ON RED by Elie Doubleday
      • MY FICTION: REMEMBERING 50 YEARS OF WORK by Richard Kostelanetz
    • AZURE Volume 4, Issue 4 >
      • ENDNOTES FOR AN ALLOCUTION by Peter Freund
      • UKEMI (and other poems) by Nicole Vento
      • MEMORANDUM ON DESIRE by Laylage Courie
      • THE HOLYWOOD DEUTERONOMY by Jim Shankman
      • AT THE MAD HATTER-MARCH HARE ART GALLERY (and other poems) by M. Ann Reed
    • AZURE Volume 4, Issue 3 >
      • THE MACHINE, STOLEN FIRE, and PERFORMANCE by Vivek Narayan
      • FIRST FRUITS by Stephen Massimilla
      • ONCE UPON A TOMORROW-TIME by Christopher Routheut
      • YIELD LIGHT OF WAY by Ken Goodman
      • SEVEN TALES by Sara Streett
    • AZURE Volume 4, Issue 2 >
      • THE PUNCH-CARD CIPHERS by DF Short
      • SHE WAS THE FIRST TO GIVE A TOAST by Kelli Russell Agodon
      • HABLU L-WARIDI by Jesse Hilson
      • THE KEY TO DREAMS by Sean S. Bentley
      • SOFA, SO GOOD, SORT OF by Remy Ngamije
    • AZURE Volume 4, Issue 1 >
      • STAMPING THE DEAD by Habib Mohana
      • LEGS by A. Joachim Glage
      • I THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX by Heikki Huotari
      • LUŽÁNKY by V.B. Borjen
    • ARCHIVES: VOLUME 3 >
      • AZURE Volume 3, Issue 4 >
        • TALES UNSUITABLE FOR CHILDREN by Devon Ortega
        • WAKE UP by JayJay Conrad
        • AMONG THE MEN IS APRIL by Logo Wei
        • SWEET by Melinda Giordano
        • BLACK ROSES by Osamase Ekhator
        • MEET ME TONIGHT ON METAPHOR STREET by Vivek Narayan
      • AZURE Volume 3, Issue 3 >
        • MENAGE A TROIS, WITH HORSE by Don Dussault
        • THE BLACK by Ben Colandrea
        • BLUE SKY LANGUAGE by Christien Gholson
        • UN DETECTIVE VIEJO by Franco Strong
      • AZURE Volume 3, Issue 2 >
        • THE CLEANSING by Linda Dennard
        • SHUFFLE by Debbie Fox
        • DID YOU FALL OR RISE FROM THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING? by M. Ann Reed
        • THE PHILOSOPHER AND THE PORNQUEEN by Omar Sabbagh
        • KIGALI MEMORIAL by Carlos Andres Gomez
        • PANTOUM OF THE MEAT by Ouita Rogers
      • AZURE Volume 3, Issue 1 >
        • HOW TO WRITE A BIOGRAPHY by Joanne B. Mulcahy
        • PROTOCOL NINE-NINE-NINE-NINE by Kenneth Hanes
        • LESS' MORE by TWIXT
        • POINTLESS MR. PROBST by Beatriz Seelaender
    • ARCHIVES: VOLUME 2 >
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 4 >
        • SYLVAN PASSAGES by Dan Wood
        • SISTER ALONE by Janet M Powers
        • CENTURY 2.1 by Alan Flurry
        • CLAIMED BY THE SEA by Sam Reese
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 3 >
        • CROSSHATCHING by M.K. Rainey
        • LULLABY by Barbara Daddino
        • HOUSEMOUTH (and other poems) by Anhvu Buchanan and Brent Piller
        • THE RESIDUE IN PUBLIC TEA AND COFFEE CUPS by V.B. Borjen
        • SYZYGY (and other poems) by Malorie Seeley-Sherwood
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 2 >
        • DRAGONFLIES: A DISCOURSE ON ANXIETY by Lara Lillibridge
        • AND RICHARD BURBAGE ALSO HAD A SISTER by Freya Shipley
        • THE WATCHERS by M.K. Rainey
        • JAZZ INTERACTION WITH SYMBOLS by Sarah T.
        • SPIDER (and other poems) by Natalie Crick
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 1 >
        • ECHOES by Daniel Freeman
        • MAPS by Susan Brennan
        • EDGAR'S FATHER'S MAGIC WORDS by JWM Morgan
        • LOCKJAW: IN TWO ACTS by James Blevins
        • WHAT THE LIVING DO by Susan Wadds
    • Archives: Volume 1 >
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 10 >
        • SUSURROS DE RECURRENCIA by Franco Strong
        • THE OLD MAN by Sarah T.
        • PERMUTATIONS by Laura Cesarco Eglin
        • WORLD PEACE 3 by Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 9 >
        • LITTLE GHOST by Danny Judge
        • THE LAST ALLUSIONIST by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • CHURCH by Diana McClure
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 8 >
        • DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS by Nancy Flynn
        • WHAT I COULDN'T SAY by Erika Ranee & Diana McClure
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 7 >
        • BRASS TYRANT AND THE AMERICAN THIRST by Kirk Marshall
        • LADY KILLER by Monika Viola
        • THE RIBBONS by Ferguson Williams
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 6 >
        • AURELIA: A BALLET IN PROSE (ACT 2 - Part 1) by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • NEW AGE UNCAGED by Frank Light
        • IMMIGRATION/INTEGRATION by Jaret Vadera & Diana McClure
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 5 >
        • THE TRIALS OF TOBIT by Joseph Lisowski
        • LIKE MANY GIANT FOOTPRINTS (and other poems) by William Doreski
        • AURELIA: A BALLET IN PROSE (ACT I) by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 4 >
        • WARDENCLIFF by Barbara Daddino
        • BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY by Reg Darling
        • AURELIA: A BALLET IN PROSE (LIBRETTO) by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 3 >
        • LAWTON, OKLAHOMA by Mark Lawley
        • TWEETY BIRD'S GRACE by Diana McClure
        • CONTAGION AND THE DINNER GUEST by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • ON POETRY AND PROSE by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 2 >
        • TWO MICE IN A BLACK BOX & THE DECONSTRUCTION OF LANGUAGE by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 1 >
        • CHARACTER SKETCHES by Diana McClure
        • SEASONS ON A GRAVESTONE by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • COCKTAIL PARTY by Diana McClure
        • DESUETUDE by Sakina B. Fakhri
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