POEM: ‘Bind Me’
From Salome Libretto
When to cut is to bind,
take me
and as you come
to the tenet of my house. In the bed that is
spread across this lexicon
bind me
in the splendor of our haunting
bind me to your wrists
to your forearms, your fingers
bind me
with your leather strapped
heritage histories rituals traditions
bind me
with your tableaux fabliaux
of ragged madenss
aberrance, labyrinths
bind me
in prophecy, sophistry
as i taste you
all palistrophically erotic and
threaded with hysteria
bind me to your doorposts bedposts
For in my death i taste you
with the paradox of worship.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
