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 »

israeli politics

had the great honor and pleasure to be on zoom with the Arab Culturalist on Business Etiquette in the UAE .  A cool, funny man who told us all the do’s and don’ts for doing business in Bahrain.  It was clear and quirky and made it clear to me that our cultures are completely antithetical.  It will be quite an experience to work with people in Dubai.

november 22, 2020 – Bahrain and the culture of commerce Read Post »

israeli politics

 

since i don’t have a bunch of poet friends who dare be honest nowadays and give constructive advice in fear of hurting my delicate feelings, i am putting this draft here.  i fear i haven’t worked out the comments thing yet, but i’m getting there.  so write me if you have something to say about this:  

 

Paralysis

A draft for Alicia

 

There’s so much  I don’t want to remember,

so much I don’t want to see,

but imprisoned at home it comes to me

how paralyzed we all have been made

and how much we need to free ourselves

not just from the lockdown of our home,

but also the passivity imposed on us

not only by terror of the plague

not only by the empty shops,

the faceless people on the street,

the lies piled so high they have spilled

into every part of our lives.

 

When my father had his first stroke,

he had to teach half his body

how to move.  I saw how much work

went into a single finger, then a hand,

until one day he was walking again.

The second time it didn’t work.

Getting a single word out

was too hard a task.

But I am his child

and my mother’s too.

And she moved for him,

refusing to let him relent.

 

 

 

I want to invoke her now

her stubborn blind will

that ignored the chill of reality

and forced movement forward.

november 21, 2020 – Paralysis, a draft Read Post »

israeli politics

It is one of the things I should have been doing all along, but couldn’t bring myself to do – cleaning out my sock drawer.  What does it entail?  Not just getting rid of those with irreparable holes or those that shrunk in the laundry, but also getting rid of socks that suit clothes that will never be worn again.  Which means, figuring out what clothes will be worn in the future.  Which means predicting what life will be like after the vaccine.  Will the vaccine work?  Will it keep us alive?  Will we live without the terror of plague?  Will we want to go back to our old life or will we re-invent our old lives?  Think about the possibility of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and maybe it’s the end of the tunnel, maybe it’s the flashlight of someone else looking for a way out, or maybe it’s an oncoming train….

me, i decided to keep all the socks, no matter how old and tattered.  

i even darned a few.

 

 

 

 

november 20, 2020 – what if… Read Post »

israeli politics

my cleaner, who for so long has kept a distance whenever she comes over, has not had a conversation with me since february, brought us 2 kilograms of kumquats and lots of lemons.  Now lemons I can handle, but what can i do with kumquats?  i know, i know – i can make jam, marmelade, cake, chicken… But I’m not going anywhere and no one is coming over this weekend, and we have very limited freezer space… According to my cleaner I should cook it as jam for 3 days.  By then we may have a vaccine…

november 19, 2020 – kumquats Read Post »

israeli politics

When I was teaching, I took great pains to wear jewellery.  Indian jewellery I bought in the Judean hills near Jericho, Yemenite jewellery inherited from my mother, Palestinian jewellery that were gifts from my students, even a bit of gold jewellery left over from my divorce of 40 odd years ago.  The jewellery helped keep the students eyes on me, even though their ears often went elsewhere.  But since the outbreak of Corona I’ve even stopped wearing earrings.  But an old friend, Heather Ferguson, woke me up to the question.  Don’t I wear jewellery for myself?  Why don’t I even wear necklaces on zoom meeting?  She has the most interesting necklaces with amazing personalities of their own.  You can look her up here. 

The big question is a sense of self.  When I go on zoom I always spray perfume (even though it is not something I think about in my usual existence (Even my husband lost his sense of smell from chemo 13 years ago).  It centers me – reminds me that I am me and I am home, no matter how far away the others are…

So now I will add necklaces to my zooms.  The next zoom I’m on is poetry and I’ll wear the piece I bought in a spa in Hevis in Hungary.  It is very flashy and tasteless and has a life of it’s own, but it gives a different proportion to the Mishnah lesson my brother teaches  – especially since this week I think we’re discussing something about modesty…

 

 

NOVEMBER 19, 2020 jEWELLERY Read Post »

israeli politics, ,

There must have been great fun times here in Roman days, what with all the orgies they must have had in the communal baths and all.  But right now all the sites – the hippodrome, the amphitheater, the baths, the museum – are silent, with few visitors.  After all, the only real place to relax is the ice cream kiosk.  And a few minutes before our tour was over,  I skipped out with a couple girls for some chocolate mint.  Because Ezi went on to the Crusader ruins, and I knew he’d be back to the bus within minutes, I ordered the chocolate mint on top and diet vanilla on the bottom, so he wouldn’t have to break his diet.  But it got dark before our group leader finished his lecture and I got to the bottom layer that was melting before he returned to the bus.  This may be the most important warning I can give for a day in Caesarea – DONT order the diet Vanilla.

Everything else was perfect – even without the wonderful restaurants I love so much.  

november 18, 2020 – caesarea under siege by the plague 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 »