I was looking through old magazines recently as I cleaned out old library materials. You never know what gems you might uncover.

This poem by Marge Piercy is perfect for this time in our Jewish year. Piercy is a poet, novelist and activist.  Her novels and poems have won awards and often focus on feminist and social  issues. While not all her work is overtly Jewish, most show a Jewish sensibility.

The Uses of Anger

When and how to let go
of just anger. Anger against
friends who turned on you,
enemies who willfully injured,
the careless who run over
pets in the road and drive on.

Anger is a fountain of lava
in the belly, burning you more
than its target. Yet its hot
engine gives power we may
require to move the mountain
that crushes us under its weight.

So when is its use used up?
Finally it quiets to ash unless
we keep tending it with old
spite freshened, reliving
old scenes we should forget,
stoking the embers to flame.

Let me use my righteous anger
to push forward when justice
demands my small force.
Let me be smart enough
to smother my rage before
it burns my body down.

image:  “Lightning” by j_arred used with permission via Creative Commons License