blog, poetry

i probably quoted her before, but the words of my husband’s ex-wife’s late mother still echo in my mind.  Two years after her widowhood I asked her how she kept occupied all day.  “What do you mean?”  She said haughtily and yet with humor, “I have a full-time job taking care of an ageing woman!”  Every year I see how true her words were.  I have endless aches and pains that demand checking and treating and even though the medical profession is occupied with treating Covid-19,   they still have time for my foibles. 

And I see that others have the same foibles.  One example that is not actually medical.  Almost every friend I have has complained about hair loss lately.  Women of various ages, various backgrounds tell me or show me that their hair is thinner, or they are getting bald in patches.  While I’m sure this is an emotional reaction to the situation, I’m sure it troubles most of them, and they spend time and money trying to figure out what to do, and how to hide it.  

me too.  when i see myself on zoom it seems to me my hairline is receding, and i spend more than my usual time in front of a mirror trying to blur that fact.  

as i used to tell my late brother-in-law – “A woman of 40 can look as good as a women of 20.  It just takes twice as long.”

 

november 24, 2020 – maintenance Read Post »

blog, poetry

this is a first draft of a poem.  Ezi didn’t seem to like it, but maybe you can give me some advice:

 

Zooming in

 

So he’s sitting around after another successful talk,

And he’s rearranged his philosophy lecture notes

And he’s on his way to dump his dirty dishes in the sink

When there’s a knock at the door – and shit he says –

I have to put on pants.  The bell rings again and he opens

and a strange woman says, “Although we’ve never really met

I probably look familiar because we’re on zoom together –

I listen to your lectures, almost every one of them.

Can I come in? – I’ll wear my mask, and keep a distance

But I have to see it for myself or I won’t be able to sleep tonight. “

She steps boldly forward toward the hall – “This is where

your study is, right?”  she says, before he can say a word.

After all, he hasn’t met a living person in months

and he’s almost surprised she possess lower limbs. 

 

And she’s turned on the light in the room he’s just left,

Before he can even imagine where she’s gone,

and she looks around and shouts, “This is the place! 

Tell me, what is that object you keep near the wall

opposite your computer?  Part of it seems to be covered,

and  sometimes I see what looks like part of a bicycle,

maybe a motorbike, but something of it seems to be missing

and even though I try, I haven’t been able to figure it out.”

“It is the secret,” he replies, “the secret of zoom.

There must always be something to make you feel,

That on a screen, you can never know the entire truth.”

 

 

 

november 23, 2020 – zooming in – a draft Read Post »

blog, poetry, ,

We walked along the acquaduct today from Jisr El Zarcha to Caesarea, admiring the amazing engineering skills of the Romans

as well as the entepreneurship of the people from Jisr

it was a long and gorgeous walk along the shore, and so exciting i  kept clicking and it is not surprising that I ran out of battery along the way.  Yet every photograph showed the way everything in the country is connected:

but after 10 miles all i could think of was a warm bath

november 17, 2020 – walking to caesarea Read Post »

blog, poetry

no – not out of our social distancing, not out of our relative isolation, but out of our usual schedule.  tomorrow we go back to Jisr El Zarcha and walk along the beach to Caesarea.  We will see  few people and many seagulls. 

The news about vaccinations has made me realize how frightened I am of living a normal life in the future.  What have I been doing all this time at home?  Where should I go if I can go anywhere I want?  Last week a friend asked me where we will go for our next vacation and I had no answer – no will.

november 16, 2020 – we’re breaking out Read Post »

blog, israeli politics, poetry

I was waiting for the obituaries on Zach – it took people  a week to get it together and then everybody started talking.  Two main points that were repeated with the greatest frequency: 1. he was a very nasty man 2. He absolutely changed the face  of Hebrew poetry and even the way language is used.  I want to add another – his magic is impossible to translate.  I know he’s been translated, but I can’t find his magic in translation.   How do I know?  I’ve failed again and again.  His ability to fill simple words of every day speech with meaning and feeling was unparalleled.  here is one example.  

 

In the evening

when my girl said

get going

I went down the street to go

And I would go

and get confounded

go and get confounded

 

i opened the book of “Shirim Shomin” – Different poems, or Strange Poems – in 1974 – and this was the first poem, my first experience with poetry that could be called ‘modern’ in Hebrew.  No rhyme, no meter.  Only an incredibly beautiful sound that leads to incredibly beautiful sadness.

November 14, 2020 – Natan Zach Read Post »

blog, poetry, ,

“you can’t have love in a society that doesn’t love”: click here to hear me speak with Shlomi Hatuka

 

Shlomi broadcast this conversation a few months ago and now made it into a podcast.  I don’t like listening to myself, and heard in this dialogue in Hebrew that I was breathless all the time, and didn’t read very well.  But the subjects were fascinating.  Shlomi is very active in the Yemenite community and has been very prominent in the movement to uncover the truth about Yemenite children who disappeared after they were brought to Israel.  And yet we talked about what it is like to be a witness to the first generation.  it is nothing like second generation because it doesn’t talk about the effects on the individual, but it concentrate on witnessing the effects on survivors.  And then suddenly he shifted the subject to my next book in Hebrew, about love and sex.  And now that I think of it, my answer was the same as the previous subject.  I have a need to transmit what I witness.  

november 14, 2020 – A CONVERSATION ABOUT HOLOCAUST AND LOVE Read Post »

blog, poetry, , , ,

what did we discover in the languages we didn’t understand – the music of poetry. We still have to edit the video to make sure the Iranian participant is protected, but having the Persian wash over us, the Slovak, , the Hebrew, and the Yiddish, forced us to listen to sounds, and how words make music in and of themselves. When we actually have the film, we’ll post it.  Watch the faces of the participants – they are entranced.  I’ve been to zoom meetings where you watch people dying of boredom and maybe suddenly you hear the sound of snoring.  Here, everyone was leaning forward – trying to catch the words. 

november 13, 2020 – found in translation Read Post »

blog, poetry, ,

Sometimes when we don’t know a language well, we lose something when we hear the poetry, but sometimes if we listen we gain something more, the music of the poem. So even though we’ll be explaining and translating these poems, the poets will give us their untranslatable music. We hope you’ll join us for this special occasion.  Please register here  

a link will be sent to you on the day of the event.

 

november 9, 2020 – found in translation Read Post »