Vox Populi
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Philip Terman: Two Poems
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My Daughter Rubbing My Wife’s Feet
Early morning, still dark,
numbed from the chemo,
those heals and toes and ankles
and soles striding step by step,
mile after mile, hour after hour,
winter into spring, summer
into fall, year after year
teaching through rows
of desks, rows of plantings,
up and down the stepping,
kitchen to basement, the bumps
and bruises, our daughter
rubbing softly and deeply,
her knowing hands breathing
into the pain their love.
~~
My Brother’s Running Shoes
Not the everyday shoes he wore to work
at the Einstein Medical Center
where he discovered a receptor
and its role in angiogenesis,
the inhibition of which may be
one strategy for treating cancer—
or his special shoes he wore
to weddings and bar mitzvahs.
These are the shoes he donned
when alone, to speed up his heart,
to power his lungs, to meditate
a little away from the world.
Safely secured in my closet,
slightly stained with his sweat,
storing his smell.
These are the shoes he felt
most alive in, and the shoes
he wanted to give him more life.
These are the shoes that lifted him
above the earth and down again
in the steady discipline of his body’s rhythm.
These are the shoes that transported him
into his next life—shawled and barefoot.
~~~~
Copyright 2025 Philip Terman
Philip Terman is the author of eight books and four chapbooks of poetry, including the recently published, My Blossoming Everything (Saddle Road Books) and the soon-to-be released The Whole Mishpocha: New and Selected Jewish Poems (Ben Yehuda Press).
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wonderful poems Philip. (Carla Schwartz)
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Thanks so much, Carla!
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Poems such as these remind us why we turn and return to poetry.
Thanks to Philip for writing them and thanks to you, Michael, for posting them.
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Thanks, Luray!
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I always find such a big heart in Phil’s poems. These are lovely, full of emotion without being sentimental.
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Yes, a big heart, a practical mind.
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Thanks so much, Valerie! And I yours! Happy Thanksgiving…
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Oh, yes!
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Thanks, Patricia!
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Ever so present to us in the word, the image, the phrase,
Ever so prescient of the stark moment that marks the end of our days.
Shalom aleichem.
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Thanks, Charlie!
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Ever so present to us in the word, the image, the phrase,
Ever so prescient of the stark moment that marks the end of our days.
Shalom aleichem.
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Ever so present to us in the word, the image, the phrase,
Ever so prescient of the stark moment that marks the end of our days.
Shalom aleichem.
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Nice way of saying “life”, of saying “death”. Amazing poems. Thanks.
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Thank you, Marina!
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These are poems to be read again and again.
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Yes, they are!
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Lovely, tender poems full of gratitude. Thank you, Phil.
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Gracias, Bill! Happy Thanksgiving–gratitude to you.
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Very inspirational works of art. Shoes and feet as reminders for readers of our own challenges and rewards in travelling through a loving life. Thanks for sharing these two blessings.
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I especially love the poem about his father’s shoes. What an ending!
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As usual very poetic. Every tiny detail bounds with heavy heart beat. Like a hammer falls down on an anvil.
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Thanks, Saleh. I agree!
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Thanks as always, my dear friend Saleh.
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Stunning, poignant poems. They will both stay with me.
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Thanks, Christine.
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