Art Heifetz

The Huipil

I don’t hold with those who think

that we’re the Chosen People
but the joy of waking by your side
has almost made me a believer.
Small miracles are woven
from quiet moments such as this,
each colored strand  locked in place
as the loom moves on.
When you lay me in my plain pine box,
don’t dress me in my Sabbath best,
but in the huipil hanging on the wall
like Joseph’s coat of many colors.

 

Interview

TSTmpj:  What do you consider to be the best “small miracle” that’s helped you in your poetry writing and publishing career?

Art Heifetz:  Meeting my present wife after the loss of my son and my first wife. After a long hiatus I began to write again. Old friends at the university urged me to seek publication.

*

TSTmpj:  What was the inspiration for “The Huipil?”

Art Heifetz:  My belief that the spiritual part of life resides in small moments rather than in more structured religious belief.

*

TSTmpj:  What is your take on the status of religious poetry in 2013?

Art Heifetz:  There is a market for saccharine verse in religious journals but in most poetry journals, poems with allusions to the Bible or the Divine are anathema to the editors. Ditto to Jewish content except in Israel.

Bio Note

Art Heifetz teaches English to refugees in Richmond, Virginia. Has published 85 poems in 8 countries. See polishedbrasspoems.com.