If a person sins unintentionally
聽 聽 聽–Leviticus 4:2

We鈥檙e not sure why our fourteen year old
didn鈥檛 do his math project last week.
He said he forgot which may or may not be true
and even though he鈥檚 going to get zero points for it
we鈥檙e going to make him do it anyway.

We鈥檙e really into the punishment fitting the crime
over here (or at least I鈥檓 learning to be as
you can鈥檛 just take his phone away for
every little thing) and we鈥檙e all hoping
lessons will be learned.

I鈥檓 glad we鈥檝e moved on from the old ways
of dealing with sin as I can鈥檛 imagine telling him
oh you didn鈥檛 do your homework, well
take the fat surrounding the innards of a bull
and burn that as a tribute to your math teacher.
Don鈥檛 forget the kidneys!

We鈥檙e all vegetarians here and doing anything
involving blood and innards just doesn鈥檛 suit
our lifestyle. Plus bulls and goats are
so hard to come by here in Newhall.
We鈥檙e still bemoaning the empty mule farm
around the corner.

Bring back the mules we often yell as we drive by
on the way home from school where all math assignments
must be complete, even if they鈥檙e long overdue.
Even if fewer than zero points will be given.
Even if he has to put his phone in the other room
while doing them so, at least, there will be
no temptation to sin further.

聽(an online publication and resource for poets), and hosted the聽Cobalt Cafe weekly poetry reading for almost 21 years. He鈥檚 authored 26 collections of poetry, including 鈥溾��, 鈥溾�� (91传媒 themed poems) and 鈥溾�� (Poetry written while a staff member on the first Birthright Israel trip), and most recently 鈥溾�� (Poems written in Hawaii 鈥� Ain鈥檛 Got No Press, August 2022) and edited the anthologies 鈥溾��, 鈥溾��, and 鈥�.鈥� He writes the daily web comic 鈥溾�� with fellow Los Angeles poet Brendan Constantine. He鈥檚 widely published and reads his poetry wherever they let him.