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Ronnie
Someck was born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1951, and arrived in Israel
two years later. He studied Hebrew literature and philosophy at Tel Aviv
University and drawing at the Avni Academy of Art. In addition to working
as a counselor with street gangs, he teaches literature and holds writing
workshops.
A leading Israeli poet, Someck began publishing in 1968. His publications
include eight books of poetry and a book for children which he co-authored
with his daughter, Shirly. In 1997, he recorded a CD, Revenge of the Stuttering
Child, with musician Elliot Sharp in New York. In 1998, Someck and artist
Benny Efrat had a joint exhibition entitled "Nature`s Factory" at the Israel
Museum. Someck has received the ACUM Special Jubilee Prize, the Prime Minister`s
Prize and the Amichai Prize (2004).
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Hebrew
version
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English
version
Testifying to Beauty
The most beautiful girl in the world used the pad of her finger to
wipe the dust off the label of a bottle in a wine shop in Bordeaux.
The fan of this movement is taught at archaeology schools
when eyes open wide to identify the year of Creation.
Inside the bottles all traces of the hand that squeezed the grapes
have vanished and from the grapes the scent
of the shady roofs of the vine leaves has been forgotten. In the leaves
nostalgia has shut down the wind turbines of the grains of sand, and the
sand
no longer covers the roots that crept through the earth like snakes
that shed their skin every season.
And the girl? Nine months, I guess from the brushstrokes on her body,
nine months Leonardo da Vinci sat between
her mother’s legs and painted
her.
Translation Vivian Eden
Audio version
Just click on the title of each poem below to listen to them in
streaming
MP3 format.
Testifying to Beauty -
Hebrew Language read by Ronny Someck,
accompanied by guitarist Elliott
Sharp. |
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Patron: Linda
Feldman |
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