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Today, host Marcela Sulak reads the poetry of Mei-Tal Nadler, whose work distorts and defamiliarizes the Israeli locale in ways that are political, lyrical, and alarming. This is the beginning of “The Voices of Snipers on the Israel Defense Forces Radio Station*”:

“The voices of snipers can’t be heard over the radio waves of the IDF Station.
But they chose songs for us before they left. What songs do snipers like?
I focus all my listening on their musical choices, till my focus
becomes a gaze. Perhaps that’s how snipers are trained…”

Nadler received the 2014 Teva Prize in Poetry and the 2008 Ministry of Culture award for emerging poets. Her debut collection, “Experiments in electricity,” was published in 2013. She is a doctoral candidate in Hebrew literature at Ben-Gurion University and a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute.

Text:
Three poems by Mei-Tal Nadler in World Literature Today, translated by Rachel Tzvia Back.

Music:
Rockfour – Avshalom
Vaadat Charigim – Ein Li Makom
Ray Charles – Hit The Road Jack
ABBA – The Winner Takes It All
Talking Heads – Psycho Killer

Producer: Laragh Widdess
Technical producer: Alex Benish