Poem
Steve Ely
FASAYIL
FASAYIL
FASAYIL
Yes, I remember Fasayilthe dirt-track’s hanging gate
a shanty of tents and mud-brick shacks
annexed to the Jewish State.
Melon fields of blinding light
and sentried ranks of palms,
Tomer’s barbed-wire cash-crops,
Fasayil’s destitute farms.
The drudgery of those melon fields
was relieved by the company
of my smiling Bedouin workmates
exiled and refugee.
Yet I refused an invitation
to dine with them in their homes,
not because the Arabs will eat your heart
and make bread with your bones,
but because a Brooklyn accent
said this is the West Bank guys
and those that eat with Arabs
are terrorists and spies.
Shabbat shalom on Tomer
grilled steaks and Maccabi beer
‘Dance Rock’ and the Kids from Fame,
Sharon and Shamir.
Yes, I remember Fasayil
where I learned good men are meek,
and collude with power against the poor,
the dispossessed and weak.
© 2014, Steve Ely
Steve Ely
(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1965)
Steve Ely is one of the most exhilarating poets currently working in the UK and is just, at the time of writing, becoming well-known. Oswald’s Book of Hours deals with a sense of Englishness – specifically, northernness – exemplified by the events of a thousand years. Written in rich, textured, idiosyncratic English, the book was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection (2013...
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FASAYIL
Yes, I remember Fasayilthe dirt-track’s hanging gate
a shanty of tents and mud-brick shacks
annexed to the Jewish State.
Melon fields of blinding light
and sentried ranks of palms,
Tomer’s barbed-wire cash-crops,
Fasayil’s destitute farms.
The drudgery of those melon fields
was relieved by the company
of my smiling Bedouin workmates
exiled and refugee.
Yet I refused an invitation
to dine with them in their homes,
not because the Arabs will eat your heart
and make bread with your bones,
but because a Brooklyn accent
said this is the West Bank guys
and those that eat with Arabs
are terrorists and spies.
Shabbat shalom on Tomer
grilled steaks and Maccabi beer
‘Dance Rock’ and the Kids from Fame,
Sharon and Shamir.
Yes, I remember Fasayil
where I learned good men are meek,
and collude with power against the poor,
the dispossessed and weak.
FASAYIL
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