Three Poems by Rivka Miriam

HIS GRANDFATHER'S FACE

And when the man saw that his face was the face of his grandfather

he began speaking to himself out loud

across the generations

and his wife breathing in their wide bed

made her eyes slits

the palm of her hand over them like a tent

to catch sight of him from the distance.

*

I REVEALED TO THE FISH

I told the fish his own silent name.

He formed it with his mouth

till the water read his lips

till the water spread his name all over

steaming into cloud

beating against the shore

drying into nothingness.

And nothingness didn't know how to pronounce the fish's name

though a silent name it was.

*

QUESTION

In each of the seasons of the year the question was asked differently

and the people erred in thinking there were many questions

rather than the same one repeated question

that isn't in need of reply

its aim only to pass over the surface of faces, changing their expressions

raising and lowering their lips and eyebrows to the sound

like a pencil marking vibrations of heat and cold

Rivka Miriam was born in 1952 in Jerusalem , where she continues to live and work. Daughter of the renowned Yiddish writer Leib Rochman and named for his mother and sister who perished in the Holocaust, Rivka Miriam’s first poetry collection was published in 1966, when she was 14. She has published thirteen books of poetry, two collections of short stories and two childrens’ books and has received numerous literary awards. Rivka Miriam has twice been the recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award. Her books include Poems of Stone Mothers (1988), Place, Tiger (1994) Nearby Was the East (1996), Resting Jew (2000) and Said the Investigator (2005). Also a painter, Rivka Miriam is currently head of Beit Midrash Elul, an important Jerusalem Jewish Studies center.

Translator:

Linda Zisquit’s most recent collection of poetry is The Face in the Mirror (2004). Her translations from Hebrew include Desert Poems of Yehuda Amichai (1991) and Let the Words: Selected Poems of Yona Wallach (2006). She teaches poetry in the Masters in Creative Writing Program at Bar Ilan University and runs Artspace, a leading Jerusalem art gallery.

Artist:

Bernard Safran was an American high realist painter known for his penetrating portraits. His many covers for TIME Magazine were seen by millions. This photograph is titled "Mirror Man."