“Three Things That Make Life Worth Living” by Corey Weinstein

Poetry

Three Things that Make Life Worth Living
by Corey Weinstein

There are three things that make life worth living.
Three sneaky little things that are too small to not matter.
Not things of fragile give-and-take like friendship or the tender ties of love.
Or things of enduring grandeur like an ocean sunset or the moon over Lake Michigan.
Nor a Bach fugue or the fleeting moment of a Don Byron intro to his jazz gospel.
Yes, all worthy, all stunning, all of depth and meaning.

But there are only three things that make life worth living:
Foam soap, the taste of a ripe Bartlett pear and a Buckeye tree in full bloom.

An ode to foam soap starts with the sweet surprise appearing in my palm.
A magic ejaculation of cleansing bubbles for a smile with every wash.
It’s a spritz blitz that hits the mitts.

A sonnet for a Bartlett pear must begin with its shape that nestles in my now clean palm.
The thin skin begs to reveal an inside that mingles the silky soft texture with sweetness and aroma.
It’s a complete upbeat sweet treat.

Let me then sing a song of the Buckeye, its sinewed trunk holding the earth with tentacle roots.
First known by its sweet musty odor that surrounds and pulls me toward it.
And the low slung branches that hold the gravid splendor of inverted chandeliers of pink.
Together these hummingbird’s delight adorn like a florist’s forest, trees in a tree.

Yes, these are the three things that make life worth living.

About Corey weinstein
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Corey Weinstein is a retired physician. He is a long time hobbyist musician, poet, songwriter and clarinet player. He has published two vanity CDs of original music largely inspired by the Klezmer and Yiddish stage musical traditions and led Umzist, a Klezmer band playing benefits for Jewish elders for more than a decade. He wrote and performed at various venues a singspiel, Erased: Babi Yar, the SS and Me to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the massacre at Babi Yar. He regularly plays clarinet in the Or Shalom Jewish Community choir, for his neighborhood jazz band, The Jamberries and to assist at Shabbat services at Rhoda Goldman Plaza, as well as any chamber music group he can find. He lives in the Ingleside of San Francisco with his wife of 37 years, Pat Skala.

Other works by Corey in this issue:
Comfort for the Dead (Poetry)