Season 1 · Episode 233
Angels In Our Mouths by Sandra Beth Levy
One Poem Only · Maggie Devers
December 19, 20252m 5s
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Show Notes
Angels In Our Mouths
Sandra Beth Levy
On the tip of my tongue sit the ancient rabbis
Yeshiva style they debate how many angels
dance in my mouth
thousands, millions, more than the stars in heaven
The oldest star in space is named Methuselah
grandfather of Noah, oldest biblical patriarch
Scientists date Methuselah back fourteen billion years
Before our universe exploded into existence with a
Big Bang
My vibrant lips lick the aftertaste of love
Sweetened by my lover’s honey-bronzed skin
His breath a flood of promise
My loins blessed by a holy grandmother hugging her oceans
Innumerable angels dance in our watering mouths
more than the animals Noah protected on his arc
more than the stars created with a Big Bang
The rabbis sit on the tip of my tongue and argue
As they try to count the angels
who dance wild with abandon upon our curved cheeks
for longer than Methuselah’s light streaks across our universe
More from Sandra Beth Levy ↓
- @slevy43 on Instagram
- Her first poetry book, Unfurling The Scroll Of Seven Decades, will be out in 2026.
- Sandra has had recent poems published in the Roots and Ruins: Poetry Anthology published by Arcana Poetry Press
- And Issue 1 of A Curious Moon, an online literary magazine.
- As well as The Vagabond’s Verse-Weekly Verses on December 5th
- And three poems in a SHINE Poetry Series spotlight on December 10th.
Mentioned in this episode:
Write After: National Poetry Month with One Poem Only
Write After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice. We'll get started in April. You can share to #WriteAfterOPO.