Requiem: & Other Poems

by Aharon Shabtai, Aharon Shabtai

Part kaddish, part lament, and a powerful call for peace, Requiem and Other Poems cries out for an end to unspeakable violence


In the incantatory “I’m Sad,” the great Israeli poet Aharon Shabtai “I’m sad, / sad, sad /about the dead, /I’m 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, /burnt-out and broken /or left behind, /still alive / dangling from the ceiling …” Long one of the most outspoken Israeli critics of his government’s treatment of the Palestinians, Aharon Shabtai is widely viewed as “one of the most exciting writers working in Hebrew today” (Ha’aretz).  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


The horror


the calamity


the disgrace,


the rubble of folly


and religion’s stupidities,


the dimness of vision


and violence of despair


won’t be repaired by an officer,


a bomb or a plane,


and not by still more blood.


Only wisdom of the heart could mend it…


only the gardeners of peace.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

Published April 29, 2025