Poetry at Large

June 4, 2007 - 11:36 AM by Stephanie

Lisa at On The Face posts about Tel Aviv Municipality’s current Poetry for the Road campaign – poetry inscribed banners decorating Tel Aviv’s boulevards and street corners.

For the third year in a row, the municipality of Tel Aviv has mounted Poetry for the Road (Hebrew link; doesn’t work in Firefox). Excerpts from poems in Hebrew, Arabic and French have been emblazoned on colourful banners and suspended from the trees lining the city’s boulevards; there are also miniature take-home versions in the form of postcards that have been distributed amongst the cafes. It’s a creative, inexpensive and charming way to add a bit of culture to every day life…

I thought it was kind of funny that the banner with an excerpt from (Palestinian poet Mahmoud) Darwish’s poem Ana min hunak (I come from there) was hung on Sderot Ben Zion, or Children of Zion Boulevard. Irony intended? I wonder…

An excerpt:
I come from there and remember,
I was born like everyone is borne, I have a mother
and a house with many windows,
I have brothers, friends and a prison.
I have a wave that seagulls snatched away.
I have a view of my own and an extra blade of grass.
I have a moon past the peak of words.
I have the godsent food of birds and olive tree beyond the ken of time.

Go here for more about Poetry for the Road

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