Number of Names, Poems

Donald Levering introduces "The Number of Names" by referring to the mystical texts of the Kabbalah. "In it, we learn that God creates the world through numbers and letters, rearranging them in infinite combinations to make new things come into being. My anthropomorphic version of this is God wearing dark glasses fingering the accordion keyboard of primal letters and numbers, playing into existence a panoply of matter and energy forms. Or God the grandfather of all fiddlers making up stories and lies to accompany the improbable songs that become our lives." Born in Kansas City, Donald Levering was educated at Baker University, The University of Kansas, Lewis and Clark College, and Bowling Green State University. His prior publications include five chapbooks of poetry, "The Jack of Spring," "Carpool," "Mister Ubiquity," "The Fast of Thoth," and "The Kingdom of Ignorance," as well as three full-length poetry volumes, "Outcroppings From Navajoland," "Horsetail," and "Whose Body." Mr. Levering was a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Grant in poetry and was an Academy of American Poets Featured Poet in the online Forum. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.