I Was Born In 1948

I Was Born In 1948

With one brushstroke
In an abandoned house
With a slanted roof
I remember there was a competition about the place
And time tended to fall into a renewed history

And then they started to build around me
This is what I remember
The movement of persistent building
And the culture was imported with a pinch of local courage
And a lack of language.

I had games
One old photograph
And a lot of hopes

I had a place to build a house
I called for an architect
To take care of all the design issues
The materials were excellent

But they forgot to make reinforcements
They didn’t take earthquakes into account
Because other noises were neutralized
By the heart’s happiness.

(tr. from Hebrew by Michael Simkin)

About the Author

Lali Tsipi Michaeli is an Israeli poet. She immigrated from Georgia to Israel at the age of 7. She has published six poetry books so far. Attended international poetry festivals. She was part of a residecy program for talented writers in New York at 2018.