Dan Lukiv

And Jehovah Proceeded To, poetry Dan Lukiv

Written (in 1512 BCE) by Moses in the Sinai wilderness, one year after the Israelites' famed escape from Egypt, Leviticus covers one lunar month in 27 chapters. The book prepares these people, on their way to the dissolute land of Canaan, for moral and spiritual survival. An excerpt: // Chapter 1 // Abraham also offered you, / Little turtledove, perhaps / Snaring one of your skinny legs, / As you pecked away at grain or / Seeds or clover, between your / "Turr-r-r turr-r-r," your plaintive / Cry of freedom and shyness and / Quick escapes into the sweet / Sky. // With your head nipped off / And your blood drained on the / Altar's side, your sacrifice / (A poor mother's cost) / Would stand by sons and daughters / Born crooked, / Even by a greater Isaac born / Straight.