We Were Slaves in Egypt Escape Artists in Europe Performance Artists in America

Haggadah Section: Introduction

We Were Slaves in Egypt

Escape Artists in Europe

Performance Artists in America

©Copyright 2013, Jonathan Goldin

Dedicated to Leonard Cohen

When they say

we were slaves in Egypt

they neglect Moses

who didn’t fit that bill. 

He was modern

conflicted like Hamlet

could fit nicely

with European Jews-

the ultimate Escape Artists.

In Europe

border crossings

train stations

shadow and fog

and middle of the nights

like Egypt.

Also

opera houses

and candelabras

and fur coats

and upside down

figures in mid-air

like Chagall’s paintings

magicians and physicians and mathematicians

and healers of all kinds;

all of them

Escape Artists

some talented enough

to escape.

In America

a Jewish performance artist

digitizes all of Jewish history

literature midrash torah kabbalah

and stories from her whole crazy mishpachah

puts it all on a flash drive

and projects it across her

naked tattooed body

off off Broadway

and calls it

Exodus: The Sequel

and herself,

Moses 2.0

and she got sued but

she has a great agent

and a decent lawyer. 

I’m confused

tired and dismayed

slumbering

not sure if I can make

it to the Red Sea this night

or any other night.

No longer sure

there’s any

Promised Land to find.

 So which of the

Four Sons

am I now?

 

 

Source:  
Original

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