Poetry Reading at the JCC

Remembering Yehuda Amichai

Photo by my wife, Alice Tulin, during a Malibu poetry reading

I heard you at a poetry reading
when I was eighteen
I sat in a small room at the JCC
on a hard chair in the front row

It was on impulse that I went,
betting on an Israeli poet,
to speak from a Hebrew tradition
to foster my growth in understanding

The grief and sadness were profound
I thought about the tormented people
whose bodies lay cold and bare
just a few years ago

Your voice echoed in my soul,
compelling me to join your experience,
that rocked me in the chair,
and dropped your book to the floor

On that Sunday afternoon,
we shared the same pain,
as if the door hit both of us in the head—
The door, The door

You were lamenting our history,
although before today,
I didn’t know the extent — but perhaps,
my spirit lived somewhere in your past