In a poem you can’t see
That I’ve got a green card
with an instant shot taken
at the American place on
Salah ad-Dinn Street near
the American Consulate in
disintegrating Jerusalem.

In a poem you can’t see
The irony in my eyes.

In poems you can’t see
the poetic restriction
of writing confined verse
In a country without borders.

In poems you can’t see
deceitful art embroidering
hypocrisy, both essential
to my existence, just like
the mug shot from Salah
ad-Dinn Street on my
green card is now.





From Hebrew: Ammiel Alcalay
Keys to the Garden, New Israeli Writing
Edited by Ammiel Alcalay
City lights Books
San Francisco, 1996