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[two poems by Richard Chess from JUDITH MAGAZINE 11/27/2025]
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Galaxies
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Since the night his father
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died alone in a spacious
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room, the hours
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have left his bedside clock.
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Psalms, too, every night
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fly from the page, letter
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by letter, each letter
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taking its place, a star
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in winter sky.
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All he can do
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for comfort now
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is to face what remains
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of his nights and days, empty
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pages of prayer, and praise
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receding galaxies.
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❀ ❀ ❀
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Honeysuckle
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Today, he gives his right hand to the living will.
He gives his pronoun to the census bureau.
He gives his birthday to the family Bible.
He gives his face to the mirror.
What would you find if you looked for him there?
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Tomorrow, he’ll take god back
from the names in which god’s held captive.
But who can say if he’ll survive until tomorrow?
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For now, he gives his charm to one of you,
his disdain to another. And he won’t stop giving,
not when there’s an eye to give to beauty,
a short sentence to give to the book of oblivion,
not when inside him there’s still honeysuckle,
the fragrance of his loneliness, to breathe
into the air where it might make you swoon,
that scent of nectar tinged with vanilla.
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Richard Chess
these poems first appeared online at Judith Magazine, A Journal Of Jewish Letters, Arts & Empowerment, on November 27, 2025
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I was introduced to Richard Chess and his poetry by my friend and medical mentor, Jessica Schorr Saxe, MD. I read these poems and others by Richard featured at Judith Magazine on the morning after a night of questioning and despair. Their lines take my frayed and tangled life and allow it to remain frayed and tangled, but now with a few bright threads revealed. Humility, seeking, and shared humanity – these are what Richard Chess brings forth to me through his writing.
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Additional poems by Richard Chess at Verse and Image:
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Thanks again for joining the conversation.
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– Bill
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V E R S E and I M A G E 
Thanks, Mary Alice. Yes, Richard's poetry makes me feel that I live more deeply on earth, with all of us.…