Makom

Makom / מקום

For Yakov

When I think of the idea of "place,"

the word that comes to mind,

more than any other,

is the Hebrew word,

"makom."

The word seems stable

and lasting, solid,

more so than others.

I don't know

why this is so.

I could explain it 

linguistically

as due to the final

continuant,

but I can't explain it

emotionally.

Hebrew is not really

one of my languages

in this life,

but only a remnant

from other lives,

and yet it seems

that the word

has always been there,

solid, stable,

established,

and lasting.

I have loved

many places:

my hometown,

when I still knew it,

and the dry mountains

surrounding it.

Border Mexico,

Barcelona,

the Blue Ridge,

a beach in Brazil

that I knew only

from another life.

They all had 

a certain sturdiness,

that of "makom,"

and all would appeal

to me,

and to a people

without place.

Donald Jacobson Traxler