Requiem: & Other Poems

Part kaddish, part lament, and a powerful call for peace, Requiemand Other Poems cries out for an end to unspeakable violenceIn the incantatory Im Sad, the great Israeli poet Aharon Shabtai wails: Im sad, / sad, sad /about the dead, /Im sad /about the dead /about the dead, /about the wounded, /sad /about the homes / sad, /sad, sad /also about the fork /thrown onto the floor, /about the bulbs, /burntout and broken /or left behind, /still alive / dangling from the ceiling Long one of the most outspoken Israeli critics of his governments treatment of the Palestinians, Aharon Shabtai is widely viewed as one of the most exciting writers working in Hebrew today (Haaretz). Though some may feel that this is not the time for Israeli voices, others believe change must come from within as well as from pressures from outside Israel. In these times of carnage and slaughter, Shabtai in Tikkun calls for peace:The horrorthe calamitythe disgrace,the rubble of follyand religions stupidities,the dimness of visionand violence of despairwont be repaired by an officer,a bomb or a plane,and not by still more blood.Only wisdom of the heart could mend itonly the gardeners of peace.