israeli politics

Timing - 8.23.25

Here’s a poem about last night:

 

timing

 

Interviewer: what was the main principle of transportation in your time ?

2000 year-old man: Mostly, Fear…you would see a wild animal and you would go two miles a minute

 

We are strolling in the evening with the cat

holding hands and smiling

over Mel Brooks and his wonderful timing –

that silence that sets up a punch line

 

and the phone breaks in warning

there will be a missile siren any moment.

But like Adam and Eve we know there is hiding.

We cut through the park running

 

The siren blankets the grass with terror

I bite my lip at our jolting speed

not daring to turn to see the shrieking cat

and we make it to the door of a shelter

 

that is locked, but the siren has stopped

and now I can tend to the bleeding lip

standing under the overhang

until the All Clear releases us

 

and the sky is no longer our for

for the moment, and we can stride

home slowly while my heart

slows to normal

 

Guilt is the next step.

We go out looking for the cat

who’d walked the whole way with us

expecting a treat, and now is lost.

 

timing – 8.23.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

certainty - 8.22.25

Remember the Cuban Missile Crisis?  From  the 16 to the 28 of  October 1962 we were waiting for the global nuclear war.  12 days of uncertainty.  Here we’ve got 684 days of not knowing what will happen to the hostages, whether our government will take over Gaza, whether the hostages will be returned, whether I can take a nap this afternoon.  

Just now I was thinking of a short sleep – and there was an announcement of a missile. rats –

to the shelter. 

nope.

Every moment of our lives is like this – not just uncertainty as to what the government will decide – and with so many unstable members of parliament there are far too many possibilities.  What happened to the trains?  Why is the Minister of 

certainty – 8.22.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

poetry and hairdressers - 8.21.25

I was not feeling well today and at breakfast with friends began to feel like I was fainting for the first time in my life.  So we left quickly, went home and I took a nap.  When I woke I wanted to cancel my haircut but discovered that my app only allows me to make appointments, and I really didn’t like the idea of disappearing and/or dying without looking appropriate.  So I went to congratulate him on his new snazzy shop.  And brought a poetry book for him and one for associate.  For Amit who gives me all my information about tv channels and jokes I brought “Hanging Around the House” (in English) who said “sign it with your phone number” and remarked on a few poems immediately, and for Amir I brought “Ways to Love” in Hebrew.  He looked at the cover, the publisher, the size and put it away.  

Unfortunately I don’t like the way Amit cuts my hair, and feel honored that Amir deigns to sculpt my heaven-worthy look, so I whisper “I love it” to Amir as I leave, and miss the parting from Amit.  

I wish I could prefer Amit.

 

poetry and hairdressers – 8.21.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

what a cold! - 8.20.25

what a cold I caught!  I looked around me and everyone was weating a sweater, and poor sensitive me froze, not only at the theater, but all night long.  It has curbed my style for days.  

And when  we finally got to the beach, the current was too strong to really enjoy anything.  And after we made the mistake of wading in, I came out freezing again, with my cold firmly entrenched.  It was just about the sunset, and the beauty of the scene made me ignore the cold air.  So now I’m suffering.

But maybe, there is a positive direction to the world, just maybe there will be a change of direction in the middle east.  So here’s a more positive poem:

Bible Story

 

When they opened the door to the ark

the hatch unfolded to show blue sky

and then slowly we began to see ruins,

what was left of the world as we knew it.

 

The birds flew out before us, eager to grab

whatever might be edible, even if sea-soaked,

unaware of what might have been lost,

uncaring of what needed to be restored.

 

Beasts came next, many more

than had entered the ark, cautiously stepping

on wet unfamiliar ground, mistrustful

of what would hold them on the earth

 

and then we strode out, blinded by sun,

believing the world could be as it was

as we stepped over bodies, cities,

our own libraries, ignorant

of where to begin.

What a cold – 8.2025 Read Post »

israeli politics

the dying man - 8.18.25

The theater is a few steps away from the place where the families of the hostages stay.  And tonight we went to a play — about a  guy who is dying and miraculously recovers.  I guess the idea is that one should never give up hope.  

Maybe it even was a dialogue with the hostages.  Maybe I just saw it that way because I am obsessed with the pain of the hostages.  

But the interface of the world of culture with the world of torture and starvation is too much to bear.

the dying man – 8.18.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

300,000 people - 8.17.25

and i couldn’t find parking.  I went with a friend and we planned it perfectly.  We would go early and park in the hospital, and walk to the demonstration.  But we could barely get to the entrance, and when we finally did, we learned the entrance was closed.  So we drove around for over half an hour without being able to get near any place to put the car. and then we went home.  The streets had been crowded with people – every where we went – but the way home was empty.  We could see the cars coming from the other direction – all in a traffic jam.  

So if there were 300,000 people at the demonstration there were at least another bunch of people stuck in their cars, all asking for the release of the hostages.


300,000 people – 8.17.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

on hold - 8.15.25

no talks.

strike on sunday.

it won’t make a difference 

we’ll be on hold until the elections.

and there will be elections only if the government now believes it can win the election.

 

on hold – 8.15.25 Read Post »