Diaspora

Di-a-spora 

Not the name of your favorite drag queen 

Or some vague disease 

The vast distribution, 

Scattering and smattering 

Of my jewish ancestors 

We were dispersed, 

Spread like bad news and luke-warm jam 

Across countries who repeatedly 

Rejected our candlelit guilts 

Nowhere became somewhere 

Became everywhere 

Home was the challah 

And the kiddush cup, engraved with the past 

The wine, too 

Home was within our 

Chanting prayers, 

Our bending knees 

Our aching hearts