dear darwish - poetry book
“It is a brave effort and feels so long overdue and at the same time perfectly natural—an Israeli poet grapples directly with the Palestinian history, land and literature through an engagement with one of Palestine’s most widely known literary voices. Mahmoud Darwish once warned, ‘This is forgetfulness: that you remember the past / and not remember tomorrow in the story.’ Morani Kornberg-Weiss addresses the other in perfect awareness of history—that there may be no answer, no personal reconciliation. She proceeds anyhow into the thicket of the past not for the sake of settling accounts but to understand the edges of a possible future. One hopes it is only the first of a series of poets making such engagements.”
—Kazim Ali
MIRACLES & MORE, Karen Alkaley-GUT
Translated to the Hebrew by Morani Kornberg
יש משהו מדויק בשם שהעניקה המשוררת קרן אלקלעי-גוט לספרה החדש, "נסים וכו'". התנועה הנסתרת ביומן המחלה הצנום וההגון הזה, שבו היא מתארת בלשון יבשה ורק לעתים נרעדת את התמודדותם של בן-זוגה ושלה עם סרטן אלים (בגופו שלו), היא תנועת התודעה והלב בין המסתורין שבכוח החיים והמוות ובין עשרות ומאות הפרטים שמחוללים אותם בפועל. הנסים בלתי נתפשים כביכול, נמצאים מעבר לכושר ההכרה האנושי, אבל הם גם פרוזאים לגמרי וממוקמים על רצף סתמי כמעט של מאבק יומיומי. אלקלעי-גוט מבטאת היטב את השניות הזאת בשיר בעל הכותרת האירונית "מחקר רפואי": "בן אנוש אחד, שנשמט מן הקצה/ אל תוך קברו/ נמשך לאחור/ בידיים אלמוניות/ רבות מספר// שלעולם לא ידעו/ את הפלא אשר חוללו
journal & online publications (select)
“Dear Nawal El Saadawi,” Feminist Love Letters Project, curated by Cindy Rehm and Sara Fowler.
“Nakba Museum” (excerpts), Haaretz.
“I want to write poems about Israel and Palestine,” “Let’s say we put torture aside,” and “david antin talked about tuning,” Samplekanon. Trans. to Dutch by Joost Baars.
“’Israeli Nature:’ A Translation,” kadar koli 9.
“Intimacy of Domestic Life” and “To Counter the Permanence of Vision,” Eccolinguistics.
“Procedures,” “Likelihood of —,” “Centre Back,” and “Disturbed to Feel Turned On,” Omnia Vanitas Review.
“Attending with Rapacity,” Saucebox Broadsides.
“You say the city is thriving,” and “You and I meet on the borders,” Buffalo News.
“I’m trying to collect words,” arc.
“Dear Mahmoud Darwish,” BlazeVOX journal.
“Miniscule Citations” and “Land Harness,” kadar koli 6.
“Down the Rabbit Hole” and “La Casa Azul,” The Last Stanza.
“Apartheid,” Working Papers.
“Reclaiming Space,” “Provincial Sight,” and “Angles,” “La Casa Azul,” and “Dora Maar au Chat,” Working Papers.
“Dora Maar au Chat,” Genius Floored.
“Each Queen Stands on a Square of Her Own Color” and “Asphalt Jungle,” Voices Israel Anthology.
“to be heard,” “Of its Kind,” “Mine to Share,” and “A Man of the World,” Re-Vision.
“Inhaled Words,” “Death of Delicacy,” “Knitting,” and “You were a child,” Papilio.
poetry Events Organized
“Returning from Oblivion: An Evening of Political Protest Poetry.” With Karen Alkalay-Gut, Rajaa Natour, Mei-Tal Nadler, Tal Nitzan, and Liat Kaplan. Zochrot. Tel Aviv.
Shalom/Shlaom Reading Series, Buffalo, NY.
Poetry Reading with Israeli-American poet Karen Alkalay-Gut, Western New York Book Arts Center, Buffalo, NY.
Multilingual Poetry Reading with guest poet laureate Robert Hass, in tandem with Poetic Natures: The Environment, Literature, and the Arts, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv.
EVENT PARTICIPATION (select)
READINGS
“Free & Natural Poetry Faire,” Commonwealth & Council Gallery (Los Angeles, CA)
“Oral History & Art,” The Markaz (Los Angeles, CA)
“Poets for Palestine,” Levantine Center (Los Angeles, CA)
“Correspondence,” Craftswoman House (Los Angeles, CA)
Zochrot (Tel Aviv)
Insert Blanc Press (Los Angeles, CA)
RustBelt Books (Buffalo, NY)
Rooftop Poetry Club, Buffalo State (Buffalo, NY)
Tribute to Adrienne Rich, Buffalo Fringe Festival (Buffalo, NY)
Burlesque Night, Buffalo Infringement Festival (Buffalo, NY)
Alette edition, Saucebox Press (Buffalo, NY)
House Reading (Buffalo, NY)
Women of Lower Bohemia: Celebration of Women in the Arts, Babeville (Buffalo, NY)
Human Resources (Buffalo, NY)
Personne(l): A Cover Night (Buffalo, NY)
Spring Poetry Festival (Botanical Gardens, Tel Aviv University)
Israeli Poetry in English (Tel Aviv)