Vivienne Popperl

Prayer was Chanel No. 5

On Saturday mornings
prayer was Chanel No. 5
uncorked once a week,
a haze of sophistication
added to Pond’s soap.

Prayer was middle-aged
women in the synagogue’s
upstairs balcony, calf-length
dark wool skirts flapping
back and forth as they rocked
and swayed, fur coats collared
with mink, or fox heads draped
across shoulders, velvet hats
with short lacy veils drifting
over powdered foreheads.

Prayer was whispered,
scratching and crisping
out of creased lips
edged in red.

I never thought I’d miss
the smell, sound, closeness
of bodies, or the smooth
dark wooden built-in chairs
with hinged seats flung back.

It’s so much more comfortable
to sit cushioned at home
safe behind a flat screen
that shows only faces,
and a camera that I can turn off.

The familiar Hebrew words
rattle quietly in the empty room.
I try to raise my voice,
to swell into the ancient river
of song, to join the holy current,
but after a line or two, I fall silent.
A few high notes drizzle
from my throat, then fade.

Vivienne Popperl lives in Portland, Oregon. Her poems have appeared in Clackamas Literary Review, Timberline Review, Cirque, Willawaw, About Place Journal, and other publications. She was poetry co-editor for the Fall 2017 edition of VoiceCatcher. She received both second place and an honorable mention in the 2021 Kay Snow awards poetry category by Willamette Writers and second place in the Oregon Poetry Association’s Spring 2022 contest “Members Only” category. Her first collection, A Nest in the Heart, was published by The Poetry Box in April, 2022.