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Thursday, March 17, 2016

The Sunday Poet: Helen Bar- Lev

 

 
Helen Bar-Lev

 

 

 

 

In The Course of Contradictions


The electrician leaves the house
with safety switches that shock and
fuses that don’t work

The mover promises he’ll come tomorrow
but leaves her sitting on the cartons
until the muse moves him

The contractor doesn’t do half the work
he promised but doubles his prices
with the confidence of the righteous

The enemy declares a cease-fire
but continues to bombard us
with rockets and katyushas

so at night she lies awake
and gets through the days on tranquilizers
but it’s all somehow expected isn’t it?
par for the course of living on this planet

But he who today declared forever love
compared her to saints and angels
tomorrow will scream
with the vengeance of a hurricane,
the anger of a tsunami

From this contradiction
she can never recover

© 12.2006 Helen Bar-Lev

Helen is the assistant to the President of Voices Israel, an artist, and poet. Her work has appeared widely in journals and anthologies. 
www.helenbarlev.com




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