Take Me to the Sea: Poems

Mois Benarroch, winner of the Yehuda Amichai poetry prize 2012. Between Lightning and ThunderaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaBetween lightning and thunderby the time I see your lightthere is already too much noise.____________________________________________ Here"""""""""""" In these streetsthe angel who walked before mehelped me walkprevented me from fallingsaved mewhen I had a car accidentin the headnear the synagogueon the head of the yearherein these streetsso empty from meI cried for the first timeI smiled for the first timeand from here I traveled everywherenow I came backseeking understandingfrom the houses, the streets, the sidewalks, the people.________________________________________If You See Me in the Street and I don't say hello to youdon't think I don't want your companyor that I am trying to hurt youif you see me in the streetand I am thinking another poemother wordsthat may finallydescribe the firmament line that connects between my legsand the town where I was borna giant rainbowif you see me in the street and I don't sayhelloit is not a declaration of warbut a lookinto the future. __________________________________Sand it took me twenty years to learn to cry in Hebrewthen my words became mildas a stone whose secret has been revealed by the rainthat it was made of sand._____________________________________To Be an Ethnic Minority@@@@@@@@@@@@@When you speak about your pastthey say you only speakabout the pastwhen you speak about other thingsthey don't listenwhen you shoutthey say you are a screamerif you speak politelythey are impressedif you crythey say you are a weeperif you objectthey say you are a liarif you laughthey say you are a clownIf you criticize outof concern for the futurethey demand you mind your own businesswhatever you doyou both come out bald. and you balder._____________________________________Declaration of Independence I am a one mancountryin my countryI tolerate everythingmy country is secular and religious fundamentalist and liberalI make elections whenever I wantand cross the frontier without any problem I am not represented in the UNso I don't cause trouble to anybody in my country I am the prime ministerand the eternal immigrantmy frontiers go with me wherever I goand my government does not ask for moneyI am a one man country I never declare warand I do not have territorial claimsfrom my neighboring countriesI am a country of one manwho gets along with his wife._____________________________________________Home The way back home is full of pine treesresins odors, strongsmells of black olivesand in the breadhashishonce, and for five hundred years, the path back home wasmarked and clear, like a lane to the temple, fivehundred years, then the Diasporacame to an end, and the househangs between the two sides of the ropeand me in the middlewalking and stalkingin the land of IsraelIn the land of Moroccoand at both sideshomesOnce the road home passedthrough El Rincon, the cornerand there, there was a wonderful Italian ice-cream, todayin Conus, in Jerusalem, a wonderful Italian ice-creamand its coldfills my heartwarms my exilebut there is no solaceon both sidesthe house isin ruins. _____________________________________________Writing Isthe illnessand the cure._________________________________________The Longest Journey The longest journeyis a