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Anthology of contemporary Hebrew poetry I
From "STONE"
*
Contemporary Hebrew poetry
Amir Or
Hebrew poetry at the turn of the millennium. Preface to the anthology of contemporary Hebrew poetry
Features poems by:
Dan Armon
Tamir Lahav-Radlmesser
Salman Massalha
Amir Or
Asher Reich
Yael Globerman
Amir Or [NEW]
watch the stone.
Watch the stone again.
What changes in you
as you look.
The colors sing as they vanish.
What remains
of the one you embraced who's no longer with you
rustling in the dark.
The dawn will cover him and you.
The white stain, the stone,
will fade in your sleep.
Tour breath too
you won't hear.
I don't answer him.
I don't see him.
I obey.
*
When you meet the stone
Leave it alone, I said,
placed in the palm of your hand
sealed in its secret
its endurance greater than yours
lean on it.
Wait with it,
it is a piece
of earth
when the surrounding landscape is snuffed out
you're alone in the dark
and its weight is in your palm
and your weight
listen to the weight
for the weight
is its entire life
life comes
from you
see how it suckles
in your palm
borne, ascending, taking wing
assenting
*
The stone, placed
before me in the field,
plunges
in mighty waters
with the field
with me
with the starry heavens
goes up in flames
absorbed in the air
and still placed
before me and I
before it
am placed
*
You asked for
the bird in the stone
to wake
the bird in the stone
and the stone crouched
compact, bulky
motionless
brooding on its insects
on an old dampness
when you weren't there
it awoke
glided over the mountain,
the flock of rocks descending
to the cemetery,
above the cluster of cypresses,
the candles on the tombstones,
and the starlight touching its wings
asked about you.
*
The crushing stone
the murderous stone
shattering heads
is quiet
in the stone wall.
Oh the howling of the dogs
during those nights that aren't
distant
now I'll take you away
from that hour
that calm hour of night
when I sit on the stone
its chill against my back
my ears to the crickets
my eyes to the stars.
I don't belittle
the dirge
in the cracks of the wall
and I don't reject
the starlight that falls
like milk on my chest,
on the stone.
The stone and I
endure our hour
and memory within us
folds in its cell.
All that we learned
and carved in the stone
is hushed, rests,
light gusts of wind
pass over us
like indefinite sentence.
*
I got down on the floor.
I lay on my side.
I curled up turned into
a stone,
windowless,
sealed as sleep.
Within the stone
I gazed at the dark
looking for limits
of stone.
The edges of the stone,
the more I study them
the more I lose them, and find them
when I leave in pain
it limits.
Movement of particles
like light rain
on the face.
Far within my body, warmth
still, signifying
life.
*
He who suffocates in a stone,
learns its limits,
from the holes, the openings,
concealed passages,
a wind blows toward you
silvers of light breaking away
recall your eyes."
I forced myself
to raise my eyelashes.
The flowing stone,
a tear that melted,
a smile.
You came into the room,
touched the stone
and I rose to welcome you.
Published 1999-11-02
Original in Hebrew
Translation by Gabriel Levin
Contributed by Helicon
© Dan Armon
© Eurozine
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