[button style=’blue’ url=’tlv1.fm/israelintranslation’ target=’_blank’]Subscribe To The Podcast[/button] [button style=’blue’ url=’tlv1.fm/content/israel-in-translation/’ target=’_blank’]Previous Episodes[/button]

In this week’s episode, host Marcela Sulak reads two pieces from award-winning poet Meir Wieseltier’s collection The Flower of Anarchy. His works in this collection, translated by Shirley Kaufman with the author, cover 40 years of history and yet maintain their power over time. Shaped by his early experiences of war and conflict, Wieseltier’s voice is bold and unflinching.

Here is an excerpt from the sonnet “Against Making Blood Speak Out”:

“If I die one day from the bullet of a young killer—
a Palestinian who crosses the northern border—
or from the blast of a hand grenade he throws,
or in a bomb explosion while I’m checking the price
of cucumbers in the market, don’t dare say
that my blood permits you to justify your wrongs…”

Text:
The Flower of Anarchy, Selected Poems by Meir Wieseltier. Translated by Shirley Kaufman with the author. University of California Press, 1997.

Music:
Faran Ensemble
Musica Judia – The Best Nigun Ever