In Bloom (Almost)

It’s March 7, and spring doesn’t technically start for another couple of weeks—but standing in the sunshine today, and feeling my seasonal allergies coming on, it’s hard not to feel a change coming in the air. Will the weather go back to being cloudy and rainy soon? Almost certainly.

 

But there’s reason to believe that we’re going to be in for a (relatively) warm and sunny season in the months to come. Today at Seattle Met, Justin Shaw of Seattle Weather Blog explains why unlike the last two soul-crushing years, we are probably in for a delightful spring. Get your shorts ready.

🌷Spring Flash Sale Today! + new sessions and speakers

Hi Bioneer! Spring is a time for renewal and growth, and that's the exact energy we look forward to at Bioneers 2022 this May. To celebrate the season and our opportunity to reconnect and build movements together, we're holding a 1-day ticket flash sale! Register before midnight using code SPRING20 to get 20% off all virtual and in-person tickets.  We’re finalizing the program, and new sessions are being added to the schedule on a daily basis. We're especially excited about two new panel additions:  From Othering to Belonging with john a. powell & Angela Glover Blackwell Basins of Beaver Relations with Kate Lundquist & Brock Dolman Sign up ASAP, and we sincerely hope to see you this May, whether it is at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco or wherever in the world you choose to join us from virtually.

REGISTER NOW

And remember, Bioneers has an extensively subsidized scholarship program for both the in-person and the virtual events. If cost is an issue, please don’t hesitate to take advantage of the scholarship and reduced rate options. We actively fundraise for these programs and encourage you to utilize them if necessary.

 

And as the world vomits up war

 *

1.

And as the world vomits up war
And retreats into emptiness,
Spring’s begun dividing

her storks and cranes among us
There’s a power in this northern migration,

Edging out fear and assent,
While out on the spring ice
A primordial evil lands in your hands

The future tense and past tense
Got stuck in the muck of grammar
The storks fell asleep in their nests
Not yet having arrived

Only the Ukrainian Army and its volunteers
are awake. In this countdown to a new era—
a baby born in a basement
will receive the holy tablets

 

2.

If only I could, like a nighttime moth,
whisper to this moment, “stop”
and reach the light, crawl behind the backdrop,
as though it had never been winter.
The moth would fly off to the muse Urania,
to a branch of Iwaszkiewicz’s pine.
The vintner is pouring the birds his wine,
growing painlessly drunk, himself.
Lullaby of winter, rock me, leave me
in a warm fur coat to write poetry,
and drive the hares from the apple trees,
so they won’t eat the shoots in their dreams,
look around at the grain, at your loved ones, at us,
let it be Christmastime again.
And after that, spring, and let us be alive,
and the moth is still resting inside my sleeve…

 

3.

Yesterday, I put on my father’s pants.
They fit me now.
I remember him well in them
around the age I am now.
Tanned. Elusive.
Or was I running slowly around him?
Tо the place where his pants were the color of coffee with milk,
and not vomit with vodka.
I always ran with a much older crowd.
Searching, I guess, for the fisherman, the amateur photographer,
the grower of tomatoes under a heat-lamp
for my Christmas-birthday,
the electrical engineer, far away
in my childhood forests,
that one, who at fourteen,
saw his first lightbulb.

 

4.

The forest is almost ours,
like the salt in the salt-shaker.
It’s calm and has no fear,
for from its mouth and eyelashes bird to bird
and ravine to ravine
nod as if to friends:
and you are glad.
Ulysses, forest, come back to us,
for my father has merged with you
and has become like you—
squirrely, snowy and avian,
if only I could send my son
your letters.

 

5.

Snow is falling on Krakow the kind
that slows your phrases and slows your actions
that slows the tears dripping from your lashes
out of wartime fear for Kyiv

Krakow’s a raincoat, a junior size,
where you’ll find yourself hidden deep in a pocket
Unharmed, and in the other side’s
despair and a pain that won’t subside.

You are Szymborska’s cigarette lighter
inside that pocket, the one on the right.
But a sea of trouble spilled out in the left,
as big as the floodplain in Irpin.

Translated, from the Ukrainian, by Amelia Glaser and Yuliya Ilchuk.

____________________________________

Natalia Belchenko is a poet and translator. Born in Kyiv, she is a recipient of the Hubert Burda Prize (Germany, 2000) and the National Writer’s Union of Ukraine Mykola Ushakov Prize in Literature (Ukraine, 2006). Finalist of the Gennady Grigoriev Prize (Russia, 2013), the L. Vysheslavsky’s “Poet’s Planet” prize-winner (Ukraine, 2014). Her works include eight collections of poetry and numerous magazine selections and anthology publications, both in Ukraine and abroad (in English, German, French, Polish, Korean, Dutch, Bulgarian, etc.).

Leviticus 21:1–24:23

 Leviticus 21:1–24:23

English Standard Version

Holiness and the Priests

21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, aNo one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, 2 except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 3 or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). 4 He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. 5 bThey shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. 6 They shall be holy to their God and cnot profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord’s food offerings, dthe bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. 7 eThey shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman fdivorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. 8 You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for gI, the Lord, who sanctify you, ham holy. 9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; ishe shall be burned with fire.

10 j“The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, kshall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. 11 He shall not lgo in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother. 12 mHe shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he nprofane the sanctuary of his God, for the oconsecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord. 13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity.1 14 A widow, por a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin2 of his own people, 15 that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for gI am the Lord who sanctifies him.”

16 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may qapproach to offer the bread of his God. 18 For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man rblind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face sor a limb too long, 19 or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, 20 or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a rdefect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or tcrushed testicles. 21 No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to uoffer the Lord’s food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22 He may eat the bread of his God, both of vthe most holy and of the wholy things, 23 but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not xprofane my sanctuaries,3 yfor I am the Lord who sanctifies them.” 24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.

22 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron and his sons so that they zabstain from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they adedicate to me, so that they do not bprofane my holy name: I am the Lord. 3 Say to them, ‘If any one of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while che has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord. 4 None of the offspring of Aaron who has a leprous disease or a ddischarge may eat of the holy things euntil he is clean. fWhoever touches anything that is unclean through contact with the dead or ga man who has had an emission of semen, 5 and hwhoever touches a swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or ia person from whom he may take uncleanness, whatever his uncleanness may be— 6 the person who touches such a thing shall be unclean until the evening and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has jbathed his body in water. 7 When the sun goes down he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy things, because kthey are his food. 8 lHe shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the Lord.’ 9 They shall therefore keep my charge, mlest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: nI am the Lord who sanctifies them.

10 o“A lay person shall not eat of a holy thing; no foreign guest of the priest or hired worker shall eat of a holy thing, 11 but if a priest buys a slave1 as his property for money, the slave2 may eat of it, and panyone born in his house may eat of his food. 12 If a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things. 13 But if a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced and has no child and qreturns to her father’s house, ras in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food; yet no lay person shall eat of it. 14 sAnd if anyone eats of a holy thing unintentionally, he shall add tthe fifth of its value to it and give the holy thing to the priest. 15 They ushall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they contribute to the Lord, 16 and so cause them mto bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy things: nfor I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”

Acceptable Offerings

17 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 18 “Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them, vWhen any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the Lord, 19 if it is to be accepted for you it shall be a wmale without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. 20 xYou shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. 21 And when anyone yoffers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord zto fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. 22 Animals ablind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or ban itch or scabs you shall not offer to the Lord or give them to the Lord as a food coffering on the altar. 23 You may present a bull or a lamb that has a part dtoo long or too short for a freewill offering, but for a vow offering it cannot be accepted. 24 Any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut you shall not offer to the Lord; you shall not do it within your land, 25 neither shall you offer as ethe bread of your God any such animals gotten from a foreigner. Since there is a fblemish in them, because of their mutilation, they will not be accepted for you.”

26 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 27 g“When an ox or sheep or goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as a food offering to the Lord. 28 But you shall not kill an ox or a sheep hand her young in one day. 29 And when you sacrifice a isacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. 30 It shall be eaten on the same day; jyou shall leave none of it until morning: I am the Lord.

31 k“So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the Lord. 32 lAnd you shall not profane my holy name, that mI may be sanctified among the people of Israel. nI am the Lord who sanctifies you, 33 who brought you out of the land of Egypt oto be your God: I am the Lord.”

Feasts of the Lord

23 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, pThese are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall qproclaim as rholy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.

The Sabbath

3 s“Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.

The Passover

4 p“These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the tholy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. 5 uIn the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight,1 is the Lord’s Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 vOn the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. 8 But you shall present a food offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.”

The Feast of Firstfruits

9 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, wWhen you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of xthe firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, 11 and he shall ywave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And on the day when you ywave the sheaf, you shall offer a zmale lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 aAnd the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah2 of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma, band the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin.3 14 And you shall eat neither bread nor grain cparched or cfresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

The Feast of Weeks

15 d“You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the ywave offering. 16 You shall count efifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of fnew grain to the Lord. 17 You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as gfirstfruits to the Lord. 18 And you shall present with the bread seven

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