Wailing Wall

yesterday I was at the Wailing Wall

pretending to be a man, pretending to be a Jew

it was research for my job

still I tried to feel God, touched the Wall

said a prayer for my sick mother

the women go to one side

the men to the other

the rest of us float and bobble like space trash

around the corner is the empty co-ed wall

no one prays before the genderless stones

they smell the concession

the gay rabbi said Jerusalem

has been conquered forty-four times

I walk with the men, stolen yarmulke in my hand

past the dancing bar mitzvah boys

on the other side of the fence

their mothers throw hard candies at them