My Lookalike at the Krishna Temple

Poems

Jacqueline Osherow

• Publisher: LSU Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9780807169445
• eBook ISBN:
  9780807169452
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Poetry
• Index: Literature

In My Lookalike at the Krishna Temple, Jacqueline Osherow considers expressions of spirituality from cultures all over the world and investigates previously unexplored aspects of her relationship to Judaism and Jewish history. While some poems reflect on practitioners of self-imposed isolation, from the monks in Fra Angelico's frescoed cells to Emily Dickinson to the Kotzker Rebbe, others explore topics as varied as architecture, geometry, faith, war, and genocide. Osherow finds beauty in Joseph's dreams, the euphony of crickets, and the gamut of symmetries on display in the Alhambra. The scent of lindens serves as a meditative bridge between Darmstadt, Germany, alien and unnerving, and a familiar front porch in Salt Lake City, where the poet freely engages with the natural world: "Don't worry, moon; we all lose our bearings. / You don't have to rise. Stay here instead. / I'll spot you; we could both use an ally?/?and rumor has it disorientation?/?is the least resistant pathway to what's holy." Osherow takes readers on a journey as tourists and global citizens, trying to find meaning in an often painful and chaotic world.

Eremitaggio

I

The Kotzker Rebbe—

beloved, revered—

spent his last

twenty years

in isolation. Waiting

for insight, some say,

mentally ill, some say,

but judging from his

quotations—as an ape

mimics a human

so an old man mimics

himself—he was trying

to avoid self-imitation.

He also believed—

perhaps this was

his motivation?—

that the bulk

of our exertions

(did he mean

the day-to-day, or

the working out

of long-term

aspirations?)

sever us from our

authentic selves.

II

I stumbled upon

his story in disbelief

as a child—or

perhaps it was

a different hermit?—

the practice so alien,

unthinkable. I couldn’t

bear the thought

of missing anything,

would pore over

photographs

in weekly LIFE

magazines,

storing up future

destinations,

undaunted by

all but the most

extreme degrees

of distance:

tha...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• I (Sometimes Stars)
• Autobiography with Joseph
• Sonnet for My Backyard Crickets, Two Weeks Gone
• Backyard Meteor
• Counting My Losses
• II (Call to Prayer)
• Eremitaggio
• The Stork in the Heavens, Revisited
• Fez Postcard/Call to Prayer
• My Lookalike at the Krishna Temple
• III (Snapshots/Seasons)
• Spring Arrives Late to Salt Lake City
• Storm Clouds over Lupines: Villanelle
• Autumn Ghazal
• Winter Sonnet
• Psalm 27 on Newark AirTrain (mid-December, 4:15 p.m.)
• Moonrise, Salt Lake City
• Tilia cordata
• IV (Poems from the Alhambra)
• I. Joyfull Paradise
• II. Symmetry I
• III. Last Ticket of the Day: Return Visit
• IV. Symmetry II
• Acknowledgments