Alwayswriteagain: ‘Notes on the Nature of Love’

Alwayswriteagain: ‘Notes on the Nature of Love’: While the weather’s  cold, wet and nasty, there’s no better way of beating it than by snuggling up with a good book – on a sofa - with your ...

Where They’re All Named ‘Mom’

Prize-winning Israeli poet, Ada Aharoni has asked that details of the US-based Syndic Literary Journal be distributed. She appears in the current, January 2015 edition.

LeRoy Chatfield, who founded Syndic in San Francisco and published it 1958-1960, re-launched it fifty years later in 2010 and the fest now appears on-line at syndicjournal.us. 

Material on the site is available in both audio and text. To subscribe, email: subscribe@syndicjournal.us.

There is neither charge nor  registration involved.

Here’s a taster by Terry Scott from the August 2010 re-launch.

At time of publication, Scott was living in Hermosa Beach, California, concentrating on photography, song-writing and travelling.

“Urban Camping

“I awaken in the dark
and draw the blanket closer ‘round my hunched shoulders
while I ponder the luxury
of catching a bit more sleep.
Unfortunately, my bladder has other ideas.
I grope blindly for my shoes
and begin the long walk to the communal toilet,
crossing my arms in front of my chest as I stumble forward,
crossing my legs when I find it occupied.
I, like the other campers here,
am bleary-eyed
squinting against a light which is neither moon nor sun.
We’re a motley bunch.
Our clothes, rumpled from sleeping in them,
match face wrinkles more pronounced from fatigue.
But, like many campgrounds where I’ve stayed,
we share a silent bond,
a camaraderie born of shared hardship and deprivation.
The normal defences fall away.
We smile at each other
and whisper “good morning” as we cross paths in this urban space
where the campers sleep fitfully,
dreams disturbed—not by the sound
of distant coyote howls—
but by the all-too-near cries of our children,
in pain and afraid;
by the foreign sounds of strangers
hunting their own sleep nearby.
We toss and turn,
grateful for the soft foot-fall of the nurses’ shoes,
silently padding in to check our babies’ vital signs,
in this space where we all
share one common name: “Mom”
and where privacy—for our children and ourselves—
is a valued, but non-existent thing.
As the morning sun streams through the window blinds,
painting a picket fence on the linoleum floor,
I feel a kinship
with all the other urban campers,
dishevelled though we may be…
some of us waking under bridges,
some of us in our children’s hospital rooms
but all longing
for a peaceful night’s sleep
in our own beds”.

 © Terry Scott, 2004
(Written 1/26/04 at Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles)

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© Natalie Wood (10 February 2015)

Just Lovin’ Ya!

(With apologies to  Mancunian poet,                                

 Cathy Bryant and Verbatim Poetry)

 

Vining flowers from

vintage Balinese, your

sleek, elegant pima

jacquard dress slides on -

off! - with kid leather love.

Perfect for our garden wedding

and following spring soirée,

you’ll be forever rendered in

soft shades of earth and sky,

thence packed with deft,

minimal precision for our

unending honeymoon.

--------------

(Based on a garment description from the Peruvian Connection catalogue, spring 2015)

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© Natalie Wood (06 February 2015)

Ada’s Prize-Winning Testimony to Peace

Ada Aharoni, the respected Israeli writer and peace activist,  has won an international prize for her biography of a heroic Egyptian Jewish nurse.

The French translation of Not in Vain – an Extraordinary Life (Thea Woolf – La Femme en Blanc de l’Hopital d’Alexandrie), which charts the life and work of  the head nurse of the Jewish Hospital in Alexandria, Egypt during World War II, won first place from 3,000 entries for the Prix du Temoignage (Testimony Prize) 2015.

Egyptian-born Aharoni explains that her French publisher, Manuscrit and the Huffington Post sponsored her trip to  Paris for the prize-giving. The video clip shows her receiving her prize from actor-director, Guillaume Gallienne.

”It was an awesome and most enjoyable event”, she said. 

Her entry was chosen by all 15 judges who admired the harmonious Jewish - Moslem relations evoked in the story, showing how through the hospital and aided by Egyptian officials, hundreds of European Jews found refuge from the Nazis.

Ada Aharoni (born Andrée Yadid in 1933) is founder-president of IFLAC - the International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace – and a recipient of the President Shimon Peres Award for Peace.

She has published more than 20 books, including peace poetry, historical novels and biographies since her first collection, Poems from Israel,  appeared in 1972.

The poem below, one of her best known works, is from her collection, Not In Your War Anymore (1997).

 

 

“A Bridge of Peace

"They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid." (Micah, 4.4)

“My Arab sister,
Let us build a sturdy bridge
From your olive world to mine,
From my orange world to yours,
Above the boiling pain
Of acid rain prejudice—
And hold human hands high
Full of free stars
Of twinkling peace

“I do not want to be your oppressor
You do not want to be my oppressor,
Or your jailer
Or my jailer,
We do not want to make each other afraid
Under our vines
And under our fig trees
Blossoming on a silvered horizon
Above the bruising and the bleeding
Of poison gases and scuds.

“So, my Arab sister,
Let us build a bridge of
Jasmine understanding
Where each shall sit with her baby
Under her vine and under her fig tree—
And none shall make them afraid
AND NONE SHALL MAKE THEM AFRAID”.

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© Natalie Wood (31 January 2015)

Giving the Killing Fields New Life

Elizabeth Rose Murray blogs as the ‘Green-Fingered Writer, living for adventure and word’.

A poet and short fiction writer, she is currently away from her base in Ireland and in Tanop, Cambodia where, as a volunteer English teacher  at the Singing Kites School, she has persuaded several girls to write their first verses in English.

Here is the simply terrific:

“Our Worries

“I worry…

about my exams and if I will fail,

if I’m absent from school then my study isn’t good enough,

about my eyes because I always use the computer on the weekend,

that my brain gets tired when I study so much,

when I go home at night, my bicycle will get broken,

about riding my motorbike on the road in case there is an accident

I will hear ghosts in the dark,

that when I go home there is no rice and I’ll be hungry,

for my brother in Korea because he is working with machines – it is very dangerous,

about not having money because I cannot study or buy things like *leashal,

that I make mistakes every day,

about not having enough water and the world getting hotter,

my face and skin is not white enough”.

* Murray explains that leishal are tiny clams, covered in salt and chilli and cooked in the sun.

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© Natalie Wood (23 January 2015)

A Tea Ceremony

Grandpa once made

tea in this – his stout silvered

pot with chain.

He’d rise at six;

sit sideways on his bed;

grunt, shuffle on well-trained

leather shoes; stand,

spread stiff, blunt-edged fingers

to hold the wall, then

sway along the room,

the landing, grasp the rail

and somehow climb

downstairs, never falling.

 

The kitchen found,

But still half-stunned by sleep,

he’d stop, stare, shaken

by the loss of one last

melted dream, and

scratch his brow.

 

‘Where was I, now?

‘Ah, yes!’

The kettle ready-filled,

he’d concoct a favoured

pitch-dark stew, which

stirred, would smell of tar

and sooty English days

that never saw the light.

 

At last - an emperor again

enthroned - he’d sniff,

half-smile, raise his sceptred cup,

then through night-parched lips

drain his dominion dry.

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© Natalie Wood (18 January 2015)

Keeping the Shabbat Bride on Trend

Israel never ceases to surprise. I was once in Nahariya, a quiet and refined northern coastal resort near Karmiel, and was intrigued to see a group of young women sharing a nargila (hooka pipe) at a seaside bar. And why not?!

I recalled the incident when I came across the video clip below  featuring the Revivo Project, whose members gather to sing Middle Eastern and North African Jewish tunes and Sephardic interpretations of Ashkenazi traditional melodies, while enjoying food, drink and yes - smoking the nargila! 

The Revivo Project - הפרויקט של רביבו - is part of  a growing ‘spiritualisation’ of secular Israeli culture where pop musicians rework ancient material so creating a Jewish experience that is fixed neither to religious law nor to any religious group.

It is something that American-born Israeli author and journalist, Yossi Klein Halevi views as a response to the “disillusionment with the collapse of the "messianism" of both the left (via the Oslo Accords) and the right (via withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank)”.

 

Among the traditional melodies that the Revivo gang has explored is the Sabbath eve favourite, Lecha Dodi  - לכה דודי‎),  a prayerful poem that is traditionally recited at Friday evening synagogue services. In it, the concept of the Sabbath is anthropomorphised as a ‘queen’ or a ‘bride’ and much of the phrasing is taken from the prophet Isaiah’s vision of Israel’s restoration.

The composer was Rabbi Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz, a 16th century mystic based in Tzfat, a northern Galilee town regarded as one of the four holy cities of Israel. Alkabetz wrote the piece as an acrostic with the first letter of each of the first eight verses spelling his name.

The text of the prayer is reproduced below with an English translation and transliteration along with the Hebrew original.

“Lecha Dodi

1
Let’s go, my beloved, to meet the bride,
Lekhah dodi liqrat kallah
לכה דודי לקראת כלה

2
and let us welcome the presence of Shabbat.
p'nei Shabbat neqabelah
פני שבת נקבלה

Verse 1:

3
"Observe" and "recall" in a single utterance,
Shamor v'zakhor b'dibur eḥad
שמור וזכור בדבור אחד

4
We were made to hear by the unified God,
hishmiʿanu El hameyuḥad
השמיענו אל המיחד

5
God is one and God’s Name is one,
Adonai eḥad ushemo eḥad
יי אחד ושמו אחד

6
In fame and splendor and praiseful song.
L'Sheim ulitiferet v'lit'hilah
לשם ולתפארת ולתהלה

Verse 2:

7
To greet Shabbat let’s go, let’s travel,
Liqrat Shabbat lekhu v'nelekhah
לקראת שבת לכו ונלכה

8
For she is the wellspring of blessing,
ki hi maqor haberakhah
כי היא מקור הברכה

9
From the start, from ancient times she was chosen,
merosh miqedem nesukhah
מראש מקדם נסוכה

10
Last made, but first planned.
sof maʿaseh b'maḥashavah teḥilah                     
סוף מעשה במחשבה תחלה

Verse 3:

11
Sanctuary of the king, royal city,
Miqdash melekh ʿir melukhah
מקדש מלך עיר מלוכה

12
Arise! Leave from the midst of the turmoil;
Qumi tze'i mitokh ha-hafeikhah
קומי צאי מתוך ההפכה

13
Long enough have you sat in the valley of tears
Rav lakh shevet b'ʿeimeq habakha
רב לך שבת בעמק הבכא

14
And He will take great pity upon you compassionately.
v'hu yaḥamol ʿalayikh ḥemlah
והוא יחמול עליך חמלה

Verse 4:

15
Shake yourself free, rise from the dust,
Hitnaʿari me'afar qumi
התנערי מעפר קומי

16
Dress in your garments of splendor, my people,
Livshi bigdei tifartekh ʿami
לבשי בגדי תפארתך עמי

17
By the hand of Jesse’s son of Bethlehem,
ʿAl yad ben Yishai beit ha-laḥmi
על יד בן ישי בית הלחמי

18
Redemption draws near to my soul.
Qorvah el nafshi g'alah
קרבה אל נפשי גאלה

Verse 5:

19
Rouse yourselves! Rouse yourselves!
Hitʿoreri hitʿoreri
התעוררי התעוררי

20
Your light is coming, rise up and shine.
Ki va oreikh qumi ori
כי בא אורך קומי אורי

21
Awaken! Awaken! utter a song,
ʿUri ʿuri shir dabeiri
עורי עורי שיר דברי

22
The glory of the Lord is revealed upon you.
K'vod Adonai ʿalayikh niglah
כבוד יי עליך נגלה

Verse 6:

23
Do not be embarrassed! Do not be ashamed!
Lo tivoshi v'lo tikalmi
לא תבושי ולא תכלמי

24
Why be downcast? Why groan?
Mah tishtoḥai umah tehemi
מה תשתוחחי ומה תהמי

25
All my afflicted people will find refuge within you
bakh yeḥesu ʿaniyei ʿami
בך יחסו עניי עמי

26
And the city shall be rebuilt on her hill.
v'nivnetah ʿir ʿal tilah
ונבנתה עיר על תלה

Verse 7:

27
Your despoilers will become your spoil,
V'hayu limshisah shosayikh
והיו למשסה שאסיך

28
Far away shall be any who would devour you,
V'raḥaqu kol mevalʿayikh
ורחקו כל מבלעיך

29
Your God will rejoice concerning you,
Yasis ʿalayikh Elohayikh
ישיש עליך אלהיך

30
As a groom rejoices over a bride.
Kimsos ḥatan ʿal kalah
כמשוש חתן על כלה

Verse 8:

31
To your right and your left you will burst forth,
Yamin usmol tifrotzi
ימין ושמאל תפרוצי

32
And the Lord will you revere
V'et Adonai taʿaritzi
ואת יי תעריצי

33
By the hand of a child of Perez,
ʿAl yad ish ben Partzi
על יד איש בן פרצי

34
We will rejoice and sing happily.
V'nismeḥah v'nagilah
ונשמחה ונגילה

Verse 9:

35
Come in peace, crown of her husband,
Boi v'shalom ateret baʿalah
בואי בשלום עטרת בעלה

36
Both in happiness and in jubilation
Gam b'simḥah uvetzahalah
גם בשמחה ובצהלה

37
Amidst the faithful of the treasured nation

38
Come O Bride! Come O Bride!
Boi khalah boi khalah
”בואי כלה בואי כלה

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As this is my first post here for some months, I’d like to wish Jewish readers ‘Shabbat shalom’ and everyone very best wishes for a happy and healthy 2015.

Technorati Tags: #PerfectlyWritePoetry,#Natalie Wood,#Keeping the Shabbat Bride on Trend,#Revivo Project,#Lecha Dodi,#Rabbi Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz

© Natalie Wood (02 January 2015)