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.

#WriteAfterOPO