Counting

<p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>In the title poem of</span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> Dan Bellm</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>'s </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Counting</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> a circle of rabbis in Talmudic times confess to each other ruefully I have never in my life prayed with intention.... I have been counting chickens.... I have been counting the layers of stone in the wall.... These poems on a seeking-and-straying spiritual quest of their own count and recount the layers of days in a life ranging widely from yearning elegy and political outrage to passion devotion and gratitude.</span></p>