A poem by Shai Aran 

88FM

 

I too, like you, Martyrius,  am made of Eros and of dust along the long and
winding road….

 

Leaving
Al Quds.

I
drive. First rain. I notice

gray
poodle-cloud, lonely.

above,
behind, beyond:  Holy Sites:

well
you know them all:

Golded
Mosque, Sepulchred Church, Wall wailing,

 

Via
dolorosa! downward, Dead Sea bound, desert road, down, down

Like
Alice’s rabbit hole “down and down she went”.

And
I the fuck am Alice.

88fm   plays

Bowie,
ERM –I’m loosing my religion

Philadelphia
Freedom

 

88
plays U2, me: one

On
88fm  as I

(down,
down desert road

raped,
gutted into primordial rock) 

drive,

88
jumps, crackles,  melds into Palestine

Ya  albi, ya nafsi min eli shuftni

And
oud, tuneful, subsumes rock

and
rolls

over
Kol Yisrael,

Joining
Jerico. Huna Aricha

 

88
fm resonates no more

Kevesh
Milut says the sign,

Escape
Road it explains,

guiding
the perplexed.

Sounds
of crying  camels, tethered. Burning
dung.

Along
the road, led loaded donkeys defeated in diminished desert.

 

 

 

First rains bounce parched
dust, beige rocks

The last of the thistles.

I turn on wipers, Eini
Aleik , eini eini alek chortles  Huna
Aricha

Keeping my eyes on the road,
(99 miles from LA..I see you, I hold you)
The windshield is covered with rain

I turn right sharp, past El
Azaria

Norrowly avoiding  Abu Dis

Ma kore I ask the machsom guys.

They wave me into Maale
Adumim.

Coffee before Yeshivat
tsevet, in Mamlachti Gimel.

 

 

  

The Monastery of  St. George  overlooking Wadi Qelt carved into the rock.

Built in the 5^th Century. The monastery is located in the Judean Desert, between Jerusalem and Jericho.