Daf Yomi

Photo by the author.

morning ritual:
open the app,
get to the page,
stare at words
in a language I never learned

reading the translation where

ancient rabbis argue the minutiae
of festivals, feasts, life passages
unravelling the halacha that bound the
limits of my childhood

yet learning is an act of resistance
for those of my gender

wrestling with these texts
the whole way through is
a commitment of seven years

longer than many marriages
but i’ll get to that book later