Look There
The first publication in the United States of celebrated contemporary Israeli poet Agi Mishol, winner of the Yehuda Amichai Poetry Prize\ You are only twenty and your first pregnancy is an exploding bomb.\ Under your broad skirt you are pregnant with dynamite and metal shavings. This is how you walk in the market . . .\ —from “Woman Martyr” Agi Mishol’s poetry, written in the instability of contemporary Israel, is an astounding balancing act between brave utterance and comic revelation, stark...
Search in google:
Agi Mishol's poetry, written in the instability of contemporary Israel, is an astounding balancing act between brave utterance and comic revelation, stark reality and pure pleasure. The poet dreams of being married to Stephen Hawking; men, with all their brazen flaws, are loved, even admired; parents are mourned and remembered; the poet herself freezes in the spotlight of her own poetry reading; a suicide bomber disguised as a pregnant woman walks into a Jerusalem bakery. Skillfully rendered from the Hebrew into English by Lisa Katz, Look There introduces American readers to a vital new poet, whose depth and verve have earned her an international reputation.The New York Times - Joel BrouwerTo address what's called the matsav (the "situation") is to risk propagandism; to ignore it is to appear a Pangloss or coward. Mishol, born in 1947 in Hungary to Holocaust survivors and raised in Israel, finds a surprising amount of room to maneuver within these constraints, taking up political subjects with a sly delicacy reminiscent of the Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska's best work.
Introduction : "God in the details"Moment3Woman martyr6Olive tree7Red hail8To the muses9To a young poet about to read aloud10Scheherazade12Eros Pedagogitis14Pigeons15Summer in the city16Monday17[I don't know you]21[At Kastina junction]22[The gynecologist who examined your womb]23[Beyond the doorframe]24[At night in my bed]25[Every morning I bring you]26[I didn't have to turn you into the ambulance]27[From day to day]28[Someone lit the wax flowers in your garden]29[About that new baby crow]30[In the death announcements]31[The ceremony was modest]32Gravity, death33[When I died I was already]34Reconciliation35Parting36[Just before]39[If I open my eyes now]40[When I swam in my brain, that cosmic soup]41[I'm being filmed]42[I, Marilyn]43[I was alone but in plural]44[Identical pairs of Charlie Chaplins]45[Under a lemon tree]46[A very tall and worried Japanese woman]47[I woke up on the wrong side of the bed]48[I push my new husband Stephen Hawking]49[As I ascended to heaven]50[I stand in an open field]52Poem for the imperfect man55A little prayer for Sunday56The swimmers58Poetry reading59The peacock60Between the trees and the non-trees61Papua, New Guinea63Caress66November 4, 199567Nocturne69Transistor Muezzin72White chicken73Revelation74Horse75
\ From the Publisher“In contemporary Israeli poetry, intense, white flames appear against the dark, burning background, whose smoke is greater than the fire. Those with eyes in their heads can see: Agi Mishol’s poetry is one of the brightest of these flames.” —Dan Miron, Leonard Kaye Professor of Hebrew Literature, Columbia University\ \ \ \ \ Joel BrouwerTo address what's called the matsav (the "situation") is to risk propagandism; to ignore it is to appear a Pangloss or coward. Mishol, born in 1947 in Hungary to Holocaust survivors and raised in Israel, finds a surprising amount of room to maneuver within these constraints, taking up political subjects with a sly delicacy reminiscent of the Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska's best work.\ — The New York Times\ \
