Nighttime

Two men passed each other in the street in the night. They said nothing. Their shadows merged briefly and held taut for one second. Stepping their separate ways, the two men jerked back, caught on their shadows. But quickly, the dark left the dark, and they were free.


Why is Rabbi Loew, great as he is known to be, skulking in the night like a grave digger in the dark? He must be doing god's work: digging and digging in the bank of the river, filling his sack with earth.


When the gentle butcher sliced open the stomach of the pig, grave dirt spilled forth instead of intestines. You can't make sausages from dirt. The little grave robber touched the pig and sucked his fingers. He was just a boy; the pig, a toy made out of cloth.


In the cart they sat: the pig, the rabbi, the grave robber, the boy. The golem pulled the cart to the center of town. It was night; the streets were empty. There was no blood. The boy was alive. They ate bread in silence and went home to sleep.





GENEVIEVE GOFFMAN was born in Washington D.C. and is based in New York City. She graduated from Yale MFA Sculpture in 2020. Goffman’s first book The Triumph of a Lonely Place was published in 2024 by Inpatient Press. Her latest solo exhibition, all the words that came down to meet the body that came up from the ground, presented with Alyssa Davis Gallery, is on view at Foreign & Domestic in New York until May 22, 2025.