Poetry: David Avidan (tr. by Tsipi Keller)
Six Local Poems
1. before man
Before man goes to bed man takes off
his pants hangs them on a chair
asks for a wake-up call goes to the lavatory
from hereon bathroom from hereon restroom from hereon toilet
before man goes to bed man takes off
his clothes checks himself in the mirror and goes to bed
with a worry flicker in the center of the eye of a spacecadet
with instructions on how to better land and better communicate
when one lands and goes to bed
2. man hangs
Man hangs his pants and plans his manhood
hangs his pants on a chair and takes a stance
takes a stance regarding his future poems and brings down a leg
brings down a leg casts a glance in the mirror and makes a movie
makes a movie hangs his pants and plans
takes a stance regarding his future plans and brings down
then raises looks in the mirror and makes a movie
man puts on his pants and handles his reign
so many feet from his crotch to his zipper
till here his debts from here his returns
man wears out his pants slices up his land
east west north south and anywhere
the Sixth Fleet and the Red Fleet may reach
3. when man rises
When man rises in the morning man puts on
his pants and instantly opens fire upon
his bed his terrace his books
upon the jets of water in hot pursuit of him
a drowsy man rises in the morning
unafraid to put on his pants and open fire
4. man pesters
Man returns to his flat and pesters a machine
pesters the typewriter out of season
man pesters a typewriter and delays his sleep
for how many minutes hours years will he remain alert
man alerts his typewriter and pesters his sleep
man returns to his flat and turns on a machine
more or less the right machine
man turns on an alert-machine and delays his sleep
for how many minutes hours years will he remain alert
in this flat in this land and anywhere
the Sixth Fleet and the Red Fleet may reach
5. summing up
before man
man hangs
when man rises
man pesters
6. a tax-free supplement for diplomatic relations expenditure
Two words on the problematic status of erections
against the backdrop of the decline in class warfare
and the hardening positions of the superpowers:
it is clear, for instance, that each visible hardening
is more and more visible vis à vis a softening,
a sizeable softening of the other side which, by the by,
is only rarely soft enough to allow a real hard position
to bloom fully in secure and agreed upon borders
with minimum speech-letting
and God the Lord will take pity on all Jews
and Allah on all Muslims
and the armies of GodtheLordIsraelandGodtheLordAllah
will clear away words and dung
day and night.
This is the framework
voted verified certified
for a peace-strike
to be initiated
when the time comes
right after the war.