Written by Gerard Sarnat
DIFFERENT STROKES DIFF FOLKS [iii]
i.tanka [Jerusalemites visiting California son are puzzled no restaurants open]
in heart of Israel
it’s a regular Thursday —
just very normal
—week post Hanukkah — many
us Jews unaware Xmas
ii.tanka [Orthodox in-laws of course arranged their boy’s boychick bris*]
diaspora kids—
unlike Israel where all do
boys’ circumcision*
variations of kosher/
Shabbat — oy none my son’s child
iii.tanka [if only]
I grieve as Jew for
humans desecrated by
Hamas; can Israel
take responsibility
for Gaza response mistakes?
About the Author
Eighty-year-old late-phase often graphic chronicler arrived in seventh decade, aphorist, humorist or sometimes meanderist; Gerry is a Harvard College and Medical School-trained physician, Stanford professor, healthcare CEO. Currently, he’s devoting energy and resources dealing with climate justice, serving on Climate Action Now’s board. Sarnat’s belonged to the longest-running U.S. Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue Group. Gerry’s been married since 1969 and has three kids, seven grandsons — and looks forward to future granddaughters.
He is a multiple prize winner plus Pushcart/Best of Net Award nominee who also has been invited to serve as judge for competitions. Activism Through Poetry: How Gerard Sarnat Uses Verse as a Form of Protest is a 2025 retrospective. His words have been widely published in four collections; including by Rattle, Gargoyle, Main Street Rag, New Delta Review, Black Mountain College Press, Poetry Lighthouse, Anomaly, Songs of Eretz, London Arts-Based Research Centre, Israel Association of Writers in English, The Nature of Our Times/Poets For Science, Hyperbolic Math-Poetry Review, Gravity of the Thing, Third Wednesday, Poetry Center of San Jose, Brooklyn Review, Tokyo Poetry Journal, Gargoyle, Deronda Review, Buddhist Review, New York Times, Louisville/Mount Saint Mary’s LA/ Saint Benedict/ Saint John’s Universities, Oberlin, Slippery Rock, St. John’s University, Northwestern, Yale, Pomona, Harvard, Missouri Baptist, Stanford, Dartmouth, Penn, Columbia, Grinnell, Johns Hopkins, NYU, Brown, North Dakota, CUNY, McMaster, Maine, Oklahoma/British Columbia/Toronto/Malta/Chicago/Virginia/Alabama university presses — and more.
He can be contacted at gerardsarnat.com