She stands next to the no smoking sign
Cigarette teasing a leap from her fingers
She checks her watch
He’s not coming
Her finger plays with a hole in the fishnet stockings her mother disapproves of
She glances at the no loitering sign
Five more minutes
I didn’t cut the kitchen faucet off
The thought pops in my head as soon as I sit
I’ve never left the water running
But now, I have?
No, I haven’t
I know I cut it off
Besides, I’d hear it running, right?
I cut it off, like always
I won’t check
I won’t check
I won’t
I down my drink and take the empty glass to the kitchen sink
Joseph was a snitch. At the age of 17, he tended his father’s flocks under his half brothers. But he was an informant for his father, reporting on the bad things his brothers were doing.
Esau had lots of kids.
JOSEPH’S DREAMS
Jacob moved to Canaan again.
His son Joseph was a snitch. At the age of 17, he tended his father’s flocks under his half brothers. But he was an informant for his father, reporting on the bad things his brothers were doing.
Jacob loved Joseph more than his other children because Joseph was born when Jacob was an old man. So Jacob had a beautiful robe made for Joseph. But his brothers hated him.
One night Joseph had a dream that made his brothers hate him even more. “We were in the field tying bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood and your bundles bowed before mine!”
His brothers responded, “So you think you’ll be our king?”
Soon he told his brothers of another dream. “Even the sun, moon and eleven stars bowed before me!” (Must have been some dark nights with only eleven stars in the sky.)
He also told his father about this dream. His dad said, “Pfft. Will we all actually bow before you?” But he secretly wondered what the dreams meant.
Soon after this, Jacob sent Joseph after his brothers, who were pasturing his flocks in Shechem. “See how they’re doing and bring me back a report.”
A man in Shechem told Joseph his brothers had moved on to Dothan, so Joseph followed on.
JOSEPH SOLD INTO SLAVERY
When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they made plans to kill him. “Let’s kill the dreamer and throw his body into a cistern. We’ll tell dad a wild animal ate him.”
But Reuben had a different plan. “Let’s not shed any blood. We can just throw him into the cistern where he’ll die slowly.” But he was secretly planning on rescuing him.
When Joseph arrived they ripped his robe off and tossed him into the empty cistern. As they sat to eat, a caravan of Ishmaelite traders on camelback approached.
Judah said to his brothers, “Even if we just let Joseph die, we’ll have to come up with a lie. What will we gain? Let’s sell him to those traders. After all, he is our brother.” So they sold him for 20 pieces of silver.
Apparently Rebuen missed the selling of his brother, because he returned to pull Joseph from the cistern. When he saw Joseph was gone, he tore is clothes in grief.
And they still had to lie to their dad. They dipped Joseph’s robe in sheep’s blood and sent it to Jacob.
He recognized it and said “A wild animal must have eaten Joseph. He’s been torn to pieces!” Then he tore his clothes and dressed in a burlap sack.
(What is with this family and ripping fabric?) He refused to be comforted by his family and said “I will die mourning my son.”
Meanwhile, the traders sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer (and captain of the palace guard) of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.
Hardwood
Greenway
Late nights at the park,
last to leave
Early mornings through the park,
first to arrive
Smell of leather
Freshly mowed grass
AI
Meb
Bum knees
Less bummy knees
My knees used to kill me on the court,
nobody asked
They feel fresh on the pavement,
“Don’t runners have bad knees?”
Mid-post fadeaway with the awkward shot
Picking up the pace with my limping trot
Arrhythmic sneaker squeaking
Keeping time with a pair of Brooks
Brain dead, unconscious, in the zone
Chasing the elusive runner’s high
Full court
Marathon
How many shots in a row
How far or fast I can go
Pass the rock
Other runners
“Bucket!”
“On your left!”
Painted lines
No boundaries
Crossover
Cross the finish line
Stop acting like narcissism is just a millennial thing. God is the OG narcissist.
Then God told Jacob to move to Bethel. “Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled your brother.” (What a poorly veiled narcissistic statement.)
(Couldn’t find the top gif without the bottom)
So Jacob told everyone in his household to get rid of pagan idols, purify themselves and put on clean clothing. “We are moving to Bethel where I will build an altar to the God who has been with me wherever I have gone.”
They gave up all their pagan idols and Jacob buried them under the great tree near Shechem. As they left, God placed a terror on the people in the area, so no one attacked Jacob’s family. (What exactly is a terror?)
Soon after arriving in Bethel and building the altar, Rebekah’s old nurse, Deborah, died. She was buried beneath the “oak of weeping.”
God appeared and blessed Jacob. “Your name is changing from Jacob to Israel.” Not much of a blessing, considering all the steps it takes to legally change your name. Residency, evidence, petition, etc.
Then God performed the generic “great descendants, many nations” blessing.
Jacob set up a stone pillar to mark the place, then he poured wine over it and rubbed it with olive oil.
THE DEATHS OF RACHEL AND ISAAC
Rachel went into labor (who knew she was pregnant?) on the road to Ephrath. After birthing a son, she was about to die but named him with her dying breath. “Ben-oni,” which means “child of my sorrow.” The baby’s father called him Benjamin instead. Jacob buried Rachel on the side of the road and stuck a stone in the ground.
Reuben (no idea who this is) got Bilhah, his father’s concubine, pregnant. (Maybe Reuben is one of Jacob’s sons.) Apparently it was important enough to note that Jacob did know Reuben impregnated Bilhah.
Aha! Reuben was one of the twelve son’s of Jacob.
Jacob returned to his father, Isaac, in Mamre. Isaac died at 180. Jacob and Esau buried him.
Arsenio Franklin 