As a summary, I put together some of the poems I wrote about the war. You can find them here.
oct 7 war poems
Poems – Dec 31, 2023 Read Post »
just a scene from every day life – haven’t got it perfect yet. I’ll put it away for a while and see…
The soldier before me at the pharmacists
shrugs his M16 further back on his shoulder
as he takes his prescription out of his fatigues
and hands it over the counter.
Mahmud examines the paper and says,
“It must really hurt, but I’m not sure we have
a cream with that degree of intensity.”
The meticulous pharmacist and the casual trooper
drop their voices and move closer together.
I can’t even hear that they whisper.
My turn is next, old-lady prescriptions
stocking up for the next 3 months.
“Do you really want all of this at once?” he asks
as if he fears I’m going to binge and kill myself.
I realize that I’m all disheveled and sweaty,
Perhaps seem even demented, and not in control
and he probably doesn’t even recognize me
from before the war.
The war.
I had forgotten for a time that there is a backdrop
to this scene, a screen behind us and a divide
between that makes even the simplest of encounters
obscene
draft – Dec 29, 2023 Read Post »
For the second time this year we went to synagogue at 7 a.m. on thursday to witness a grandson put on tfilim and prepare himself to become part of the male Jewish community. It was only announced the night before because thirteen year olds now have much more important things on their minds, but both of our kids proved they were at ease in the community, and remembered the prayers and what they were supposed to do.
There was dancing and celebrations – of course the women were watching from the balcony.
A grandmother would normally be sitting in the balcony enjoying the feeling only fulfillment – but I couldn’t stop thinking of the women in this war, how we are the victims in the balcony -and the men are making the decisions and determining our lives.
Of course that’s extreme – and the government we have now has lots of very vociferous women, almost all of whom I despise. But the women of Gaza are the ones above ground, while the men of Hamas are in the tunnels.
All right – I’m not making sense. I barely slept last night and I’ve spent the day keeping busy so I wouldn’t think about the internet and/or the war.
Just as I was about to press the last button that would finally fix my website connections this noon – after at least a month of chatting with servers and bots, watching incomprehensible videos for people with a language all their own, the internet failed for the neighborhood. The man on the phone promised someone would come to fix it shortly but the day has gone by and nothing has happened. Our afternoon and evening was constructed around staying home and rewarding ourselves with 2-3 netflix/Disney films/series. I had ordered groceries so I had to stay home. But now that we have called again to see why they have not come, they admitted that it will take time before they can make it.
You of course will know as soon as I get back online. I have – for the first time in a long time – written this offline and will post it. Even if it’s the middle of the night.
internet – dec 28, 2023 Read Post »
How can we take pleasure in the lessening of the rockets when we see the footage of mass graves in Gaza? It doesn’t ease our pain to know that every house there is filled with weapons of war. Who knows whether they were put there by the families, the kindergarten teacher or the doctors or whether they were part of the ideology of the household? Who knows if the body bags going into the ground are filled with people or rubble? who knows what the truth is? All I can know is that there are rockets that can kill us and can fall on us at any moment. So a moment free of that fear must be cherished.
And believe me, it is. Not out of self-induced ignorance but out of great appreciation of each moment of grace. So here today we sat at Manta Ray and ate fish from Jaffa and watched the waves and rejoiced.
pleasure – dec 27, 2023 Read Post »
looks like we’re getting ready to wind down in Gaza and wind up in Lebanon. Up to now we’ve been absorbing the many many rockets fired at us in the north, but it looks like we’re going to have to do more than just defend ourselves if we want to get the hundred thousand or so people back in their homes any time soon.
And me I’m getting ready to solve another technical problem on this site – Slow and forgetful though I am I will figure this out. One of these days I will become an expert at solving the problems that a 10 year old could do in his sleep.
But right now there’s a solidarity demonstration in Tel Aviv – pretty much in the same place we’ve been demonstrating against the government for the past year – and we have to be counted among those who support the movement to keep the hostages in our negotiations. It’s wet and cold so there probably aren’t many people..
I’ll let you know what happens.
moving right along – dec 23, 2023 Read Post »
Seven artists, actors ,singers, musicians and dancers invite you to a one-time performance of voices from the October 7 war. Through poems, songs, music movement and prose we will share our bewilderment in an evening of compassion which we hope will be ultimately uplifting. Directed by Gabriella Lev, with Tamar Amar, Ran Cohen, Shira Natan, Hila Cohen, Geula Atlas, Batya Daniel Writers: Agi Mishol, Sarai Shavit, Karen Alkalay -Gut, Avital Liman, Salit Lazar, Zelda, Yosef Haim Brenner and others Monday Dec 25, 8pm at Bet Mazie Theatre ,18 Mesilat Yesharim
save christmas for me – Dec 21, 2023 Read Post »
Today I got interviewed for some podcast – it was supposed to be about my book, the one about ‘home poems’ but the real subject turned out to be about what advice I can give to the hundreds of thousands of Israelis about rebuilding their homes. And I found myself saying that it takes an entire society to build a home, that we all have a responsibility to help re build their homes. And our own. Until we come together and put everything we have into settling homes for everyone, we have not fulfilled our responsibility as citizens.
responsibility – Dec 20, 2023 Read Post »
