For Holly on her 66th birthday.<\/i><\/p>\nI<\/h2>\n
An occurrence, being in Nehardea.<\/i> To own is to hold. To grasp with quick fist. It happened like this It happened in Me\u1e25oza.<\/i> It is the lure of the easy metaphor I was away in foreign lands, not the lure of adventure and yet you were. and even when you were. but that is still too easy. the metaphor falls breaks A Talmudic diptych For Holly on her 66th birthday. I An occurrence, being in Nehardea. There were two. The one demanded of the other: \u201cWhat have you with my land?\u201d Otherwise inscribed: \u201cWhat have you with my house?\u201d The other: \u201cFrom you I bought it. I had it under use till term.\u201d The first: \u201cI … <\/p>\n
\nThere were two.<\/i>
\nThe one demanded of the other: \u201cWhat have you with my land?\u201d<\/i>
\nOtherwise inscribed<\/i><\/b>: \u201cWhat have you with my house?\u201d<\/i><\/span>
\nThe other: \u201cFrom you I bought it. I had it under use till term.\u201d<\/i>
\nThe first: \u201cI was afar, away in other places, not able to challenge your usurpation.\u201d<\/i>
\nOthers interpret<\/i><\/b>: \u201cI was here the whole time, dwelling in the<\/i><\/span>
\n inner rooms.\u201d<\/i><\/span>
\nThey appeared before Rav Na\u1e25man.\u00a0<\/i>
\nHe said: \u201cGo, clarify your use.\u201d<\/i>
\nRava, then retorted: \u201cIs this truly the law? One who wishes to extract from his fellow, upon him is the burden of proof.\u201d (Babylonian Talmud, Baba Bathra, 29b)<\/i><\/p>\n
\nTo drive a stake into hard ground. To bound.
\nTo limn. To limit.
\nTo own.
\nTo contest is to get between to challenge to
\nquery to dare
\nto lie
\nto contest.
\nThe land
\ninert it stays where it was<\/span>
\nproperty implies perhaps that it was<\/span>
\nseeded with sweat and now impregnated<\/span>
\nwith the life of the owner.<\/span>
\nIt happened in Nehardea. It did.
\nTwo men, real men,
\nbandanas and cowboy hats. One maybe
\nhad a John Deere cap. Sweated through around the band.
\nThe conversation was anything but hale friends well met.
\nThe conversation was pointed
\ndisjointed<\/span>
\nangry<\/span>
\nsharp<\/span>
\nWhat are you doing on my land son?
\nYou sold it to me.
\nSay it like this:<\/i> YOU SOLD IT TO ME MOTHERFUCKER!!<\/span>
\nSay it like this: <\/i>But you\u2026 you sold it to me.<\/span>
\nSay it like this: <\/i>Don\u2019t you remember, old man, I <\/span>
\nbought it from you. I tilled it <\/span>
\ntill my arm near fell off, I planted it and harvested it. Three years<\/span> now. I bought it from you, old man.<\/span>
\nNow leave.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nof a day. a very certain day
\non a field. a specific field
\nit happened like this
\na certain man and another man
\ntwo men. no other men.
\ntwo men facing each other over a piece of land
\nmy land. my land
\nwas your land I bought it from you
\nImpossible I was not here
\nImpossible I was on it all the while
\ntwo men. facing each other
\nface to face
\nstanding before the law. before a very specific law
\nbefore Rav Na\u1e25man. before Rava
\nRava also before Rav Na\u1e25man
\nsetting the case before the law
\nsetting the land before the law
\nRav Na\u1e25man speaks. Clarify your hold.
\nMake it clear to me that you had possession.<\/span>
\nmake it clear to me that you had sole possession.<\/span>
\nmake it clear to me that the land is yours<\/span>
\n Rava. student. questions.<\/span>
\n is this the law?<\/span>
\n the books say that the one who extracts must bring proof.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/i>II<\/h2>\n
\nThat one man who said to his fellow: What are you doing in this house?<\/i>
\nHe replied: I bought it from you and have enjoyed the years of legal ownership.<\/i>
\nHe said: I was in distant markets!<\/i>
\nHe replied: Behold I have witnesses that each and every year you would come to market for thirty days.<\/i>
\nHe said: All thirty days I was occupied with the market.<\/i>
\nSaid Rava: It does happen that all thirty days one would be occupied with the market.\u00a0<\/i>
\n(Babylonian Talmud, Baba Bathra, 30a)<\/i><\/p>\n
\nthe lure of the market ignoring the house
\npreoccupied with the marketplace you have forgotten who
\nwas in your house. preoccupied. engrossed. It happened.
\nin Me\u1e25oza. With one specific person
\nand another specific person.
\nand Rava decided that that is what people do.
\nin Me\u1e25oza. only in Me\u1e25oza?<\/p>\n
\nit wasn\u2019t the white sands, just the daily search for bread,
\nIt wasn\u2019t that home slipped my mind, that ever I didn\u2019t think
\nof Me\u1e25oza and those left behind, its just that I was ever so
\nbusy, the busyness that is life, running after the deal
\navoiding the pain, the strife, you were on my mind
\nreally. It happened. But I wasn\u2019t in Mehoza.<\/p>\n
\nyou weren\u2019t.
\nand yet you were. and even when you were.<\/span>
\nyou weren\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n
\ndissolves into dust on the stairs of the courthouse
\non the rhetoric of the courthouse and the anger
\nof the law: What are you doing here?
\nI have a claim
\nI was unable to dispute
\nI have witnesses
\nI was unavailable
\nYes. It happens.<\/span>
\nwe are though still captured by the metaphor
\ntake it on then, break it open.
\nwhat is a house? if you were in foreign lands for these many years
\nit was not a home<\/span>
\nit was a piece of property<\/span>
\nyet here I was. I ate those years. I enjoyed those years
\nI made a home and memories.
\nyou could have come back
\nwhat gates or walls did I erect?
\nwhat bill of divorce did I send you?
\nI paid in blood sweat and tears
\nI paid in the laughter of little children
\nthe cries of skinned knees and broken expectations<\/span>
\nthe glass of merlot at the end of the day<\/span>
\nthe sunsets<\/span>
\nyou paid market prices. you waged marketfare.
\nwhat have we now but Rava\u2019s final decision
\nand he\u2019s decided. it happens betimes. just like this.
\nin Me\u1e25oza. it happens. we are not unique.
\nit happens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"