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.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
