This lyric persona poem is inspired by a jewish folklore creature called a Golem + Hanukah’s game of dreidel. And, of course, capitalism and climate change.
What’s a Golem? A being of inanimate material — formed of mud or clay into the shape of a human — magically brought to life. If you follow regularly, you already know I love inverting monster myths. One of the most famous jewish Golem stories happened in late 16th century Prague with a rabbi named Judah Loew ben Bezalel, who had the idea to create a golem inspired by the story of God creating Adam.
What’s a Dreidel? A four-sided spinning top game played during Hanukah. “Each side of the dreidel bears a letter of the Hebrew alphabet which denotes an amount of currency to exchange: נ (nun) meaning you get nothing, ג (gimel) you get all the currency in the pile, ה (hei) meaning you get half the currency in the pile, ש (shin), meaning you must give-up currency back in the pile.” The letters represent the phrase “A Great Miracle Happened There” in reference to the miracles of Hanukah. In the original Hanukah myth, dreidel-games were used to continue practicing hebrew and following jewish teaching under the ruling oppression of the Syrians. So both a game of chance and a symbol of underground faith and freedom.
Clay
I'm a golem the way I’m a poem
Of raw material, deep earth
Animated from birth
I'm a heart-eating monster the way the earth’s made hotter
Oil-fueled rage, heated stone cold snack
Still searching for some semblance back
I'm a game the way I’m a dreidel that spins
And lands I too am made of clay
I'm capitalism’s cradle of chance
Where few Gimel everything
Most have Nun
Rarely you get the Hei of things
Still in Shin-ing sun
Golem, golem, golem
I made them out of clay
And when they’re fried and ready
Some life I've made
But I’m just a poem the way I’m a golem
By fire, flames, burning kiln-golden
Hand-molded out of molten heat and light emboldened
But I’m a poetic golem the way I’m a monster
A shell of life like a cicada or shellfish in nature
Wide-eyed, buggy, like any other monster creature
But I’m just a game the way the dreidel does it
Clay faced gamble twirling on a summit
Dancing, spinning, chancing the landing
So come on, Gimel everything
Most have Nun
Rarely I get the Hei of things
But I have a Shin-ton of fun
A great miracle happened there
Some ancient letters say
Of red-earth God created Adam
God made them out of clay
And in Adam's image
I write my little poem
I create a little creature
In God’s creature’s visage
I create my own golem
Out of fire
Dreidel inspired
I'm just a golem the way I’m a poem
Organic metal mixture, of deep earth
Claymanimated from birth
I'm just a monster the way earth’s made hotter
Waking up all of existence
Molding against more As-Usual-Business
But I'm only a game the way I keep spinning and don’t stop
Because it all could spin different, a different game and a different dark
It matters who starts it all, who says it's a game, who holds the tops
What you Gimel to the world
From the world that asks for Nun
Gives our whole Hei there
Even if we have to bull-Shin some
Poem, poem, poem,
I made it out of clay
Formed from the earth
An entire life this way.
— Adam Powers
"I am a weak, ephemeral creature made of mud and dream. But I feel all the powers of the universe whirling within me."
— Nikos Kazantzakis