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