LA JOLLA, California — The 18th season of Jewish Poets—Jewish Voices opened Tuesday evening, November 11, with a strong roster of three local featured poets: Israeli-born Laura Ribitzky, British-born Iska Koth and California-born Marcia Bookstein.
Ribitzky brought her experiences as an immigrant and a world traveler to her poems, many having been published in poetry journals. They reflected her being bullied in elementary school, her longing to climb into her grandparents suitcase to be taken back to Israel, and her reflections on October 7th.
Koth presented her works with great dramatic flair, sounding like a veteran of spoken word poetry.
Their poems delved deeply into their psyche, revealing trauma and courage.
Bookstein, returning to writing recently, after retiring from her 40-plus year tenure as a cellist with the San Diego Symphony, treated us with some humorous and wise haikus and limericks.
The haikus were motivated by a Haiku a Day challenge, the limericks, to write one a day for her husband.
Here are examples of the featured poet’s poems:
UNTRUST US by Laura Ribitzky
This morning I listened to music
in my car on the way to work
for the first time since the attacks.
It’s been days and weeks
of watching footage broadcast
through my phone: sounds
of rocket bursts, bullet sprays,
whispers – they found us –
then screams – they’re coming in –
then quiet, analysis, disbelief.
I carried these sounds in my studio apartment
from the kitchen to the couch, then to bed,
keeping the volume as low as possible
to not disturb or alert my neighbors.
The walls are so thin, and I don’t know
whose side they are on.
I feared that even the rising hairs
on the back of my neck
would be too loud.
CACTI by Iska Koth
In the solitude of the
Lonely desert
With nothing, but miles of
Washed out white pebbles
And grainy sand
Stands a cactus.
A tall proud prickly saguaro
Overlooking the barren wilderness
A habitat to so few
Yet so many.
And you may wonder
What is the significance
Of this cacti?
Its arms reaching out
In prayer,
Its souls planted firmly
Inches beneath
Searching for some hydration.
And You may stand there
Admiring its spine and needles
Protruding like ready to attack.
And just for a minute
You revel in the intrusive thoughts
Of what would really happen
If you touched it
And would it make a good stick n poke?
But for me,
The memories flood
Of my first moments in freedom
Rushing past empty spaces
With lonely cacti
Spread across acres of land
And all I wanted to do
Was hug the cacti.
And say
I feel you,
I feel your sadness
Your need to defend yourself like that.
The isolation, the terror, the fear
Of where will our sustenance come from?
Of who will be here to admire us
Or want to cut us down
And take us home.
I know the thoughts.
Of wouldn’t it be nice
To be under someone’s wings,
To be taken care of,
Not to have to fend for ourselves.
But that,
That just doesn’t seem to work for us.
We, we need to grow awkward
and top heavy
and create our own twisted designs.
Where photosynthesis works in reverse
I, too, need to parent
my own inner child.
And now as I come back to you
To see how you are faring
My dear cacti,
I want to climb all 15 feet of you
sit on your crown
And howl at the full moon
So the empty overflows
And say
We did it.
We’re back.
And this time we’re not alone.
I show your beauty off
And although they can’t understand
They offer to take pictures of us together.
And as I look down
I see a yellow bud on your flesh,
And I know
There’s hope for you too.
*
Because we come with
An expiration date,
We must love even more.
Is it too late now?
Will I die before I live?
Why don’t we find out?
*
Eileen Wingard is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.