Judgment

Robert Manaster

After some drinks
if he smashes his fist
on their Olive Garden table
and slurs an insult,
if he believes in betrayal —
that she, his wife, gave herself
to some intoxicating
lover, if he believes in proof
salvaged from her silence,
and if she fidgets with her ring,
glances at his glassy eyes
then stares down
into the table's dark cherry veneer:
imagine if in public he indulges
in Sotah, the faithless wife ritual,
as where the husband demands
faithfulness then shreds his curses
into the Waters of Bitterness,
of which he'd make her drink.
She'd live or die right there.
Imagine God
letting them and others elaborate
this deadly miracle at the thousands
of Olive Garden tables.
Later by the iron-bar fence
he'd open the gate and step out
with his wife into the listless evening.
He'd think, it couldn't have been that bad.
They could go back, but she knew
they couldn't this time, not this time.

---

Robert Manaster's poetry has appeared in numerous journals including Rosebud, Birmingham Poetry Review, Image, Maine Review, and Spillway. His co-translation of Ronny Someck's The Milk Underground was awarded the Cliff Becker Book Prize in Translation. He's published poetry book reviews in such publications as Rattle, Colorado Review, and Rain Taxi.