Nathan Lyons

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Feb 25, 2025, 1:10 AM

(courtesy)

A finely-dressed Orthodox man stands at the traffic lights, handing out pamphlets. Beard perfectly tousled, he sports designer glasses and fits snugly into his pressed black suit. As the lights turn red he strides by the bumpers of halted...

Dec 11, 2024, 9:50 PM

Adam’s Flourglass

Adam Valen Levinson sadly passed this Thanksgiving. He left us a pile of notes and scribbles, jottings and audio clips, neatly arranged by date. His writings are a treasure trove of deep humanity, of reflection, thoughts and counter thoughts, musings and...

Nov 29, 2024, 10:54 PM

Swimming to The Sirens

The nightmare returns. Inside my car, flooded with water up to my elbows. When the doors open nothing flows out. When it’s closed I’m glugging up to my neck in waves. Is it leaking from the upholstery? I’m saturated....

Nov 12, 2024, 6:19 PM

War War at first is like a young girl With whom every man desires to flirt And at the last it is an old woman All who meet her feel grieved and hurt Samuel Hanagid (993-1056) In my dream, I am thrown into the driver’s...

Nov 3, 2024, 5:59 PM

The Little Things

Out of the corner of my eye I see a sticker of Eden Yerushalmi by the entrance to the coffee shop. My head says: ‘They executed her. Why is she still here?’ I order a flat white with oat...

Sep 4, 2024, 10:52 PM

The night after they find the six dead hostages, I, along with several thousand others, board the Light Rail. At each stop the carriage grows more dense, little groups mutter the same question, studying the rail map: ‘Where do we...

Aug 2, 2024, 8:00 PM

England, My England

‘Where else can you sit out in the sunshine, in a kippa, in England?’ He’s doing just that, a small black kippa atop this serene, grey-bearded businessman. ‘I grew up in the provinces. Remember coming here as a kid, seeing so...

Jul 26, 2024, 1:38 PM

AI generated image

The Chosid calls out to me on the street and asks my name. “Natan.” “Nosun!” The Yiddish version. Sure, why not. I smile and linger. Is he one of the guys who blares techno music from a decrepit mitzvah van? Does he solicit...

Jul 14, 2024, 3:35 PM

Better To A House Of Mourning

Girl with too much make up stands by the roadside. Too much - because it’s thirty-two degrees and that war paint looks fresh. A few blocks from the beach, an hour before sundown. Her mascaraed eyes gaze nowhere in particular, bambi...

Jul 3, 2024, 5:41 PM

My phone sits snugly in its cradle on the dashboard. I’m poking around on it, stuck in city traffic when the policewoman waves me down. ‘You were on your phone!’ ‘I was checking the navigation.’ ‘Don’t lie to me.’ ‘I wasn’t holding it,...

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About Me

Fascinated by the chaos and glory of life in Israel