ICE CREAM My Way

© Joy Krauthammer

ICE CREAM  My Way

- Joy Krauthammer

All winter

I had not bought

a container of soy ice cream.

Now it’s middle of spring.

I put on weight

with ice cream I ate

last summer and fall.

Today I treated myself

to a new ice cream.

It was my joy.

I never buy dairy ‘ice cream’.

I buy soy ice cream,

always the same flavor at Trader Joes.

Soy Chocolate Chip Cherry,

quart sized

similar to Ben and Jerry’s,

--the real stuff.

I buy Trader Joe’s

Soy Creamy Mini Chocolate Sandwiches

Non-dairy Frozen Dessert 2.3 oz. each

in measured amounts

the same way I buy individual small

1.5 oz. packages of nuts.

They set for me, Gevurah / limitation.

At Trader Joes

I shop for groceries.

I trust them.

I recycle my brown bags.

I like the employees,

the small store size

and less options

and what they sell,

ethnic foods.

Kosher chicken skinless breasts!

So much food which needs

no preparation.

Easy for one person household

and for ‘pot-lucks’.

Yes, I nuke my ‘food’.

Couple days ago

Seeing an ad

I allowed myself

a visit to the freezer section of

the big grocery.

I shop there for bottled water.

Wow, at the big grocery

reduced price on Ben & Jerry’s Vermont’s finest

pint of  Chocolate Fudge Brownie

FroYo Chocolate Low Fat Frozen Yogurt

with Fudge Brownies.

I allowed myself to buy it

after comparing calories

with something more extravagant.

I splurged.

I didn’t wait until I got home.  Shh.

In the car, as I drove

reached over for the grocery bag.

Grabbed the FroYo,

removed the circular cardboard lid,

raised the pint, palm sized

cool container to my lips

and bit into the top of

yummy flavorful frozen firm ice cream.

It softened as I held it

making it easier to devour.

Dark ice cream must have been all over my face.

What were other car drivers thinking

as they saw the container in my face?

Would they think I was disgusting?

I was proud of my resourcefulness

not having a spoon in the car as I drove.

I have never seen anyone do this.

As the ice cream softened

I squeezed the container

and melting,

the delight oozed up from the sides

toward the top

cooperating with my desire

to slurp.

Two sittings

I consumed the container contents.

Now empty, the round carton

is outside in the trash.

No more evidence of my atrocious act.

I must have needed a treat.

I had a tough week.

Trying. Upsetting. Shocking.

And I was in physical pain.

For healing I took myself

for a Chinese reflexology and

acupressure massage,

and ice cream.

How would you feel

if your iMac computer had eaten

without a spoon

ten thousand of your photos, and

thoroughly messed up the remaining nine thousand
deleting all data

which had taken seven years of your life

with passion and care

to create, name, title, and organize well?

Did I tell you
I bought two containers

of ice cream?

I never go to Starbucks

but

the grocery sold on sale also

a pint of Starbucks

Peppermint MOCHA ice cream,

Swirled with Dark Chocolaty Chunks

Seasonal favorite, Limited Edition.

That means it is now and not later.

There’s a NOW lesson in this.

I love mocha and peppermint.

It’s even Kosher, dairy.

Today at home

I did the same.

It’s only me at home

and I gave myself permission

to eat the ice cream

with my mouth in the container.

Like a giant ice cream cone.

But I didn’t lick it.

It’s not so easy.

The ice cream was awesome.

Great flavor combination.

I can have chocolate with cherry

any ol’ day.

I savored and indulged in

mocha and peppermint.

Reminded me of delicious

Starbucks’ samples

of the same flavor coffee drink combination

with whipped cream

I had at a park festival last year

on my birthday.

I never drink coffee.

In two weeks it’s my birthday.

Seasonally, I celebrated today.

I ate less than 20%

saving more for later.

Will it last me to summer?

Another time, I’ll go back

to same ol’ Soy Mini Sandwiches.

2011
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THE WOMEN

THE WOMEN

- Joy Krauthammer

In the noon day sun

four friends fill the new grave 

up to the top 

filling all corners, edges, spaces, depth

so the deceased is not left 

uncovered, alone 

in her exposed plain wood coffin

after family and community 

say Kaddish prayer,

add their shovels of rock-filled 

bone-dry heavy earth

and leave cemetery

for mourners’ Meal of Consolation.

Grieving daughter stays behind.

Female friends don't wait

for the grave-digger workmen 

to come later to do their 'job'.

Friends with daughter

do their final mitzvah / good deed

for her beloved mom, Rose,

of blessed memory 

and with their long-handled steel shovels

give her a blanket of love.

Daughter receives the comfort 

given in chesed / loving-kindness

and knows her beloved mother

Raizel bat Mordechai v’ Baila

is cared for

and her soul can soar

to Shamayim / heaven.

May She be Bound in the Bond of Eternal Life.

May Rose's memory be for a blessing.

-  with love from Joy Krauthammer

Friend, I hold you in my heart.

May The Compassionate One comfort you among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

Hamakom y'nachem etkhem b'tokh sh'ar avelei Tziyon v'Yerushalayim.

~

Daughter Hare, with Joy, Barbara and Marianne

Levaya / Funeral April 15, 2011

8 Nissan, 5771

~

Photo (c) Nathan

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TICHEL TYING

Ruthie Fogelman teaches Joy to Tie Tichels

Old City, Jerusalem, October 1997

Ten Years Later ~ Tichel Tying

  dedicated to Ruthie in the Old City

- Joy Krauthammer

  

How your "purple friend," me, laughed with glee

as you taught me to tie and wrap

pretty colorful tichels / scarves

around my uncovered head

and not just wear any old shmatah.

  

So I could be tzniut / modest

because then-- I was a "married woman"

in the Holy Land.

Transformed, I turned into a hip, tichel-tied modest woman

by my friend Ruthie in the Old City.

  

Looking "single" with uncovered head,

and my then dark wavy hair framing my face,

not today's silver locks,

I did not desire

Israeli men's reputed advances.

I would look married!

  

Now I am advised that I have become "single."

I won't use the "w" word

(sounds like a red-belly black spider).

"In transition" sounds good.

  

Studying Torah hours a day,

"married to G*d," is what I safely say

when questioned

about my marital status.

I'm not ready to play.

  

I need to return for another lesson,

"Return to the Land of My Soul,"

as my Rebbes Shlomo and David sang,

both of blessed memory.

But, oh, I am no longer married.

  

I still cover my head in shul,

so will take from you,

my friend, my holy purple-loving soul sister, Ruthie,

another tichel teaching

with multi-layers and creative hippie fringe,

and keep uplifted, to the top of my head,

my kedusha / holiness

as I did when

we first tied tichels
exactly ten years ago.

   ~ ~ ~

THIS MOMENT

    HAIKU

Double Delight
 Joy's garden
© Joy Krauthammer

THIS MOMENT

 - Joy Krauthammer

Love bursting spring bud;
my heart swells to bloom brightly;
in Oneness we are.

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'TIS SPRING

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 'TIS SPRING

-  Joy Krauthammer

'Tis spring.

Early this morning

in serenity

I went kayaking

under the misty sky.

Boating in the view

of the blossoming

pink cherry trees

in Lake Balboa park

my heart blooms.

I visited the water birds

and waterfall.

I am grateful.

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More Lake Balboa:

http://sephirathaomer.blogspot.com/2010/01/hod-sh-b-chesed-day-29-blossoming.html

STORY ~ Moe the Turtle:

http://joys-prose.blogspot.com/2010/03/rescuing-moe.html

2 POEMS ~ Cherry Trees:

http://joys-poems.blogspot.com/2012/02/blossoming-cherry-trees.html

http://joys-poems.blogspot.com/2011/03/tis-spring.html

OMER ~ Cherry Blossom:
http://sephirathaomer.blogspot.com/2010/01/hod-sh-b-chesed-day-29-blossoming.html

http://sephirathaomer.blogspot.com/2011/09/humble-blossom-day-47-hod-sh-bmalchut.html

PHOTOS ~ Lake Balboa

http://joys-favorite-fotos.blogspot.com/2012/06/lake-balboa_1.html

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BUILDING A POEM

BUILDING A POEM

- Joy Krauthammer

BUILDING A POEM 
by Joy Krauthammer

The Deronda Review cover poem & photo
reprinted from "The Deronda Review" Vol. IV No. 1 - Fall-Winter 2010-2011
http://www.pointandcircumference.com/

http://joys-poems.blogspot.com/2011/02/building-poem.html

Building A Poem

- Joy Krauthammer

Could 'building' be

one brick at a time

as progress is

one step at a time?

Baby steps for success

sometimes are essential.

A foundation, an intention. 

Steps go

further, 

deeper,

higher.

Steps in the mind

action

heart.

My sister's health improves

she takes

one step at a time. 

Don't look back.

I remind my sister

G*D is with you.

She reminds me

"ABC Always be careful

Always be conscious."

Alphabet is

the building

of a poem.

My sister builds a new life.

She is a poem.

II

I learn the new iMac, 

my senior challenge

one step at a time.

Daughter warned me

"Mom, don't do it.

It's a learning curve."

I kvell with my new

computer photo creations.

Will these moments' words

be my first poem

on my new computer?

A Shehecheyanu moment

like G*d's sunrise painting.

Is building as

a poem is 

a word at a time?

Relationships killed, not built 

with wrong words.

Or is a poem

a visual image?

and not a word at all.*

  

Can a poem be a photo?

what you see

in one shot

and touches your soul.

Photo of a building

steps ^up,

sunrise shot

as G*d paints

and builds

a new day

for us to build upon

beginning with

fiery praise

and grateful prayer,

hearing G*d's words, Shema,

and then action, Mitzvot.

Baruch Hashem, I build

in Four Worlds, 

Spirit, Mind, Heart, Body.

               ~ ~ ~ 

(Magritte painted

Ceci n'est pas une pipe.

An image is not the thing itself.

What does the Eiffel Tower

represent?

Is building a 'pipe dream'?)

BlesSings for building, health, wholeness, shalom and joy.

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GARDEN of the HEART

GARDEN OF THE HEART

- Joy Krauthammer

As if in a labyrinth, every few feet

Heart of the Garden
© Joy Krauthammer

stopping my steps to focus, observe 

I walked around 

the small circular outdoor 

courtyard encircled by plants.

Low I bent down 

to inhale the enticing white azalea 

hoping in my heart it would be 

a gardenia in the garden

fill me with intoxicating fragrance.

Toward the end of my walk

in the slightly drizzly, grey afternoon

I came to the old wood double cushioned couch 

and spotted

cute little tender green clovers growing 

smack in the middle

between the cushions.

Can my 'seed dreams'

bloom as the clovers 

flourish in foreign land

an intersection

where bodies rest and 

landscapes of minds 

are redesigned?

Hmm, are the clovers really in the middle

or are they in a 'corner' at the intersection

of four cushions creating a couch?

No couch potatoes here, just couch clovers.

Couch Corners Clover
© Joy Krauthammer

 Ode to my "corners" and "attention"

Poetry Therapy Day teachers,

and

dedicated to 

Leslie Goldman, The Enchanted Gardener,

and 

Blooming Humans

  ~ ~ ~

During a poetry writing workshop day, in joy and awe, I photographed the seeded clover growing in the cushions of an old wooden garden couch. Digitally, I altered my photo-- the cushions as the 4 chambers of the HEART of the Garden, growing in the most unusual location, where there is possibility and a new reality with vision. The clover awakens us to our heart's flow in the nurturing creative space. “Garden of the Heart” is inspired by a rainy city day, and “Blooming Humans" Day 1.

Love and BlesSings for creativity and blooming heart,

Joy Krauthammer

PS

BlesSing for SPIRITED WOMAN Share Fest party day, 12/12/11.

May we all be blessed, in even the tiniest strangest corner of the universe, to find the place where we can be nourished and grow and be all that we can be. Couch clover I discovered and photographed in an LA building courtyard. © 2010

"Our 42 Day Blooming Humans series is here to assist in re-designing our inner landscape by shifting our focus into our Hearts and awakening to our role in Birthing New Reality.   By providing a common vision and focus, we are calibrating and unifying our Hearts, while maintaining a vibrant, creative space for integrating the power-filled energies arriving Now.  WoW!"

~ ~ ~

The Deronda Review back cover poem & photo
reprinted from "The Deronda Review", a journal of poetry and thought

Vol. IV No. 2 - Winter-Spring 2012
http://www.pointandcircumference.com/

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TEARS NOT OF JOY

TEARS NOT OF JOY


- Joy Krauthammer

Do you think

tears are good for the garden?

the place where I find G*d.

Do tears nourish the flowers

in this rain drought of ours,
in this mourning,

hours of sadness,

or are tears too salty?

I used to cry as I swam,

breast stroke--face down

in the swimming pool.

Tears blended in,

disappearing, joining in 

as drops

in the ocean of tears.

No tissue needed.
         ~

Tears Not of Joy
Tear drops blend in the salty ocean of tears.

The Deronda Review

reprinted from "The Deronda Review", a journal of poetry and thought

Vol. IV No. 2 - Winter-Spring 2012, page 37

http://www.pointandcircumference.com/

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