Look There: Selected Poems

by Agi Mishol, Lisa Katz (Translator)

The first publication in the United States of celebrated contemporary Israeli poet Agi Mishol, winner of the Yehuda Amichai Poetry Prize You are only twenty
and your first pregnancy is an exploding bomb.
Under your broad skirt you are pregnant with dynamite
and metal shavings. This is how you walk in the market . . .
―from "Woman Martyr" Agi Mishol's poetry, written in the instability of contemporary Israel, is an astounding balancing act between brave utterance and comic revelation, stark reality and pure pleasure. The poet dreams of being married to Stephen Hawking; men, with all their brazen flaws, are loved, even admired; parents are mourned and remembered; the poet herself freezes in the spotlight of her own poetry reading; a suicide bomber disguised as a pregnant woman walks into a Jerusalem bakery. Skillfully rendered from the Hebrew into English by Lisa Katz, Look There introduces American readers to a vital new poet, whose depth and verve have earned her an international reputation. A Lannan Translation Selection

Genres: Poetry

112 pages, Paperback

First published December 27, 2005

Reviews

[Sellmeagod · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really accessible poem collection. 2 parts are great, 2 parts are worthless.

First section has Israel poems that swing hardest emotionally and probably won't put anyone off too much politically (one poem that shows empathy with a suicide bomber did cause some censorship, but any normal reader won't mind). Then there is a tribute to her deceased parents, with some just subtle enough Holocaust references that deepen it and expand meanings greatly.

Part 3 is made of worthless dream transcriptions that are uneventful, unmeasured nonsense. Her early poems end the collection, mostly inferior and typical topical.

So, she seems to be getting better with time...awesome!

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

December review for Book Riot's Read Harder 2017: Look There by Agi Mishol, 2006. [collection of poetry in translation on a theme other than love category]





My selection for "a collection of poetry in translation on a theme other than love" was found in a favorite bookstore in Minnesota, and happened to be published by a small Minnesota press! It is also translated from Hebrew, a language close to my heart, and I felt a connection on that level as well. I love translation. I took a Spanish translation class in college, and thought that's what I wanted to do for a while. I love the idea of translation not being just literal, word-for-word copy, but trying to harness the heft and feeling of a phrase. The introduction by Lisa Katz, the translator of this collection, was insightful and intriguing in her descriptions of how she came to some of the translation decisions that were made. I loved having that extra little window into another layer of the text.


Many of the poems in this book are also about Israel. My brother is currently serving in the Israeli Defense Forces, and my relationship to Israel has constantly been in flux, so clearly this collection made me have some feelings about all that. I miss my brother, I am proud of my brother, I am mad at my brother, I don't understand my brother. A lot of things wrapped up in a single poem that has been difficult for me to parse.

[sept_scribbles · Rating 2 out of 5]

yeah poetry just hurts me on another level mentally, not in the good-emotional way, more of the "what am i reading" way. the only reason its two stars is because some of the poems were actually kinda nice, i'll have fun analyzing some of them later for the stupid IO

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry is not my strong suit to review or assess but this was a wonderfully accessible collection of poetry from Israeli poet Agi Mishol. Having access to the Internet helped me to find some of the meaning behind different reference in the poetry because I could search for references to Home Depot in Israel and find a statement from Mr. Abbas about the Home Depot which in his words is one link to "home-building ..the brutal weapon of Jewish extremism". Something I knew nothing about. Symbolism is so much easier to understand when you know that is being referenced.

She writes about everything from Israeli/Palestine issues, the death of her parents and the agony of reading her first poem aloud. Below is a portion of one of her poems trying to see into the mind of Andaleeb Takatkah, a suicide bomber.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Israel's newer poets, excellently translated by Lisa Katz, a real treat!