How Far
I'm made up of cells: How far I am from their inhuman perfection 11/8/1976
Article
Poems From A 1984 Diary
trans. Yiddish Ruth Whitman 3 I'll set out for Beer Sheva and go to the Bedouins and ransom a donkey from them, no matter what it costs, Is it my fault that the slave trade still goes on with God's creatures in Beer sheva? I'll prepare an apartment for him, invent a name, tell him…
Delphi the Second Day
Here the restless voice consents to love The simple stone, The flagstones that time serves and delivers, The olive tree whose strength has the taste of dry stone. The footstep in its true peace. The restless voice Happy beneath the rocks of silence, And the infinite, indefinite reply Of the herd-bells, shore or death. Your…
I’ll Remember That
Remember that I'm your friend: you can tell me everything. And you can tell me everything, too. I'll remember that, stone. 7/25/1977
Les Enfants du R.P.G. (Rocket-Propelled Grenade)
trans. Hebrew Ruth Whitman —You're behaving like a child, you are. —I know. Thank you. I am a child; and that other child who blew up our Zelda-tank, how old do you think he was? That wild beast. It's lucky that with only one hand I could still empty a full round at…
The Way Of All Flesh
Early in November, only a few days before his son was to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test, Friedenthal learned that a list of the correct answers could, for a price, be had. He learned this from his business associate, Max Arkin. Arkin knew everything. A stout, darting man, whose freckled scalp winked with sweat through…
Ripe
I can't stand it, he said. What other road? Season of the hungry dogs season of forgetfulness and memory season of disguises season of swindlers season of broken doors. I gave a penny to the blind man I climbed down from the stands stooped over unbuttoned my pants season of no raised flags. * * * That…
An Afternoon
As he writes, without looking at the sea, he feels the tip of his pen begin to tremble. The tide is going out across the shingle. But it isn't that. No, it's because at that moment she chooses to walk into the room without any clothes on. Drowsy, not even sure where she is for…
The Palace
After the wedding, I rode to the reception in a shiny black car. I sat in the back seat between two other bridesmaids. I was sixteen and lightheaded with excitement. I had come up to Chicago on the train to be in my aunt's wedding. I wore a long satin dress, with an overskirt of…