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My Father’s Living Will

Viva Hammer

It is a haze of fog and low cloud at dawn and the kookaburras are wild with ecstasy. The soft low click of the neighbors’ gate breaks in among...

Together In Isolation

Viva Hammer

On the seventh day of my family’s isolation for COVID-19, I call a friend sitting shiva after the death of his father. The three mourners sit together, my friend...

Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Viva Hammer

It is early still, and dark. Next to me my sister sleeps, but I wake with the sound of my father preparing for work. He is soft, so as...

Sabbath Alone

Viva Hammer

The sun falls between the leaves outside the kitchen window as I prepare for my first Sabbath alone. Beginning on Thursday morning, Sabbath greetings have arrived, and they have...

Invisibly Naked

Viva Hammer

Will you uncover your hair?” they ask when they hear I’m divorcing. I am taken aback each time; it’s such a private matter. The morning after my wedding, I tied...