Genesis

Netanel Schwartz

My mother loved suffering and sons so she bore

four, numb from numb head to numb toe and

laughing. Dr. Lim laughed too:

“I told you three times,

you come to this hospital again,

you die. And you are here. Why?”

And my mother:

“Netanel. Netan-El. The Lord has given.”

And my father’s name was

carved into his forehead:

Daniel. Dani-El. The Lord has judged me.

Not knowing the joke

when I was born I screamed

then laughed:

He was giving then,

He was not yet taking away.

Netanel Schwartz is a student at Yale University majoring in English.

ABOUT THE ART | Moon by Savan Parikh, 2024. Savan Parikh is a student at Yale University.