Erin Mizrahi
Erin Mizrahi is a writer, educator, collaborator and co-founder of Cobra Milk. Erin holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture from the University of Southern California and has received fellowships from Asylum Arts and The Institute for Jewish Creativity. Erin is author of the forthcoming chapbooks To What End: (Ethel Press) and I’m Doing My Best To Make Everything Holy (Faint Line Press) and co-author of the micro-chapbook, If We Break, Where We Break, How We Break (Ghost City Press 2023).
Erin Mizrahi is a writer, educator, collaborator and co-founder of Cobra Milk. Erin holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture from the University of Southern California and has received fellowships from Asylum Arts and The Institute for Jewish Creativity. Erin is author of the forthcoming chapbooks To What End: (Ethel Press) and I’m Doing My Best To Make Everything Holy (Faint Line Press) and co-author of the micro-chapbook, If We Break, Where We Break, How We Break (Ghost City Press 2023).
To my neighbors who never pick their pomegranates
You always leave them on the trees to rot & it pains me to see this every fall those gorgeous pinkish red orbs like pinkish red planets become hollowed a reminder that time passes too quickly don’t you think don’t they say something about how the days are long but the years are short & I don’t really know what to think except that I should have been saving those pomegranates or somebody should somebody not me I’ve got more pressing things to do & there's always more pressing things to do & I need to sign my baby up for pre-school & there’s one right down my street in the old Petco okay maybe not that one I need more time & there isn’t time & it’s Tuesday & the Jews are out walking which means it’s a holiday & it’s always a holiday & I’m a terrible Jew because I can’t tell you which holiday & who feels much like celebrating have you heard there’s some fucked up stuff happening at the Salton Sea & also everywhere & the moon’s wobbling or lost its wobble & experts say we might be going the way of Venus & it’s hard to keep up with every piece of earth we are mourning these days I like that song "These Days" by the Velvet Underground mostly because I like Nico’s voice she sounds like autumn singing like leaves falling like winter knocking slowly at the door who’s at the door probably Amazon probably my downstairs neighbor again to tell me she can hear my boy playing & she would rather not have to hear my boy playing & I would rather not have to live in a building with someone who hates the sound of a child playing does nobody remember we are all still surviving.
(published in Sonora Review)
You always leave them on the trees to rot & it pains me to see this every fall those gorgeous pinkish red orbs like pinkish red planets become hollowed a reminder that time passes too quickly don’t you think don’t they say something about how the days are long but the years are short & I don’t really know what to think except that I should have been saving those pomegranates or somebody should somebody not me I’ve got more pressing things to do & there's always more pressing things to do & I need to sign my baby up for pre-school & there’s one right down my street in the old Petco okay maybe not that one I need more time & there isn’t time & it’s Tuesday & the Jews are out walking which means it’s a holiday & it’s always a holiday & I’m a terrible Jew because I can’t tell you which holiday & who feels much like celebrating have you heard there’s some fucked up stuff happening at the Salton Sea & also everywhere & the moon’s wobbling or lost its wobble & experts say we might be going the way of Venus & it’s hard to keep up with every piece of earth we are mourning these days I like that song "These Days" by the Velvet Underground mostly because I like Nico’s voice she sounds like autumn singing like leaves falling like winter knocking slowly at the door who’s at the door probably Amazon probably my downstairs neighbor again to tell me she can hear my boy playing & she would rather not have to hear my boy playing & I would rather not have to live in a building with someone who hates the sound of a child playing does nobody remember we are all still surviving.
(published in Sonora Review)
© 2026 Erin Mizrahi
Erin Mizrahi was a Featured Poet at the Month 2026 Second Sunday Poetry Series
Erin Mizrahi was a Featured Poet at the Month 2026 Second Sunday Poetry Series