Alms Rounds — You Go Your Way, I’ll Go Mine   AS A KID, I DIDN’T DIG JESUS ‘CAUSE I WAS A JEW. SOON WEARY OF TEEN PRINCESSES AND CHOSEN PEOPLE I BEGAN TO GROOVE ON HIS COOL, FELL IN LOVE WITH A BLOND STRUMMED HER GUITAR FOR ME ONCE, GAVE US BOTH UP FOR CHRIST.   IN FLAGRANTE, THE UNMAIDENLY NUN FLED CONVENT HABIT AND WIMPLE BUT STAYED VIRGIN MARY TO MY HEAD IF NOT MANHOOD BELOW. OBSESSING GERARD MANLEY, I CONJURED IMMACULATE BIRTHS, BONES RISING MADE NO MORE SENSE THAN YAHWEH’S FIRE AND BRIMSTONE MISHIGAS.   AFTER SUI GENERIS BEAUTIFUL MUSIC, WE LOST TRACK OVER AN INTERESTED MAN’S RICH CATHOLIC LIFE WHICH TOO PASSED LIKE ALL THOSE LATINATE HOLY MAGIC TRICKS. (TWICE SHE PHONED, WOKE THE WIFE WITH JESUITICAL QUOTIDIANS.)   I SPEND LAST DAYS BEFORE LAST RITES WANDERING PLACE-TO-PLACE WEAR WHAT I OWN, A SADHU WHO CARRIES A BHIKSHA BOWL PRAY, FAST, BEG, BLESS; AND REGRETTING MO. CHURCH’S RES JUDICATA ONE BITE AT THE APPLE SIMULACRUM, STILL WHIMPER ‘BOUT THAT GIRL.

Gerard (Gerry) Sarnat is the great-great grandson of Jacob Ben Isaac Gesundheit, the High Rabbi of Warsaw, and shtetl lowlifes, Nahum Z. and Yente Liebe Sarnatzky. He is a father of three, grandpa to two, and has been married forty-plus years.

A virginal poet at the tender age of sixty-four, originally writing about caring for the homeless and happenings in the lands of Abraham and Burning Man, during 2008 his work was published in over sixty journals and anthologies and was commended or won poetry competitions and prizes inside and outside the US. In 2009 Gerry began editing literary journals. In 2010 he was invited to teach at the university level and began readings, radio interviews available as free iTunes podcasts, and workshops domestically and in Israel.

Gerry’s Harvard and Stanford educated, a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. He has been a professor at Stanford Medical School, and CEO/chief medical officer for national healthcare companies. Gerry has set up and staffed clinics for the disenfranchised, served on international non- profit boards and chaired community organizations.