Postcard # 2 [from Rachel Barenblat]

Postcard #2

The best view of Jerusalem
is from Tel Aviv, one hour
(a million light years) away

where in a day and a half
of ice cream and crafts fair
and sunset services at the port

I only saw one Orthodox guy
looking out-of-place
in his black and whites.

How could he wear color
in the wretched aftermath
of the Temple's destruction?

In Jerusalem that makes
a kind of sense, here where
the dust on the olive trees

might be a remnant of the holy stones
that dented the Roman street
where they fell, but

in Tel Aviv men wear Speedos
to play ping-pong on the beach
and my head swims because

suddenly I feel conservative
in my plain navy tank
and I realize how relative

"normal" has become, even
after a single month
in this city of gold.

-- Rachel Barenblat

Comments

[Rachel]

Testing, testing; one, two, three...

[DL]

It works! (Hurrah. I think I figured "it" out.) Nicely done, Rachel. In the poem I imagine that you intend at least two meanings for "conservative," no?

[Rachel]

I'm glad you spotted that bit of wordplay; yes, the double meaning is entirely intentional. :-)

[Megan]

This poem reads true, on a very many levels. The second stanza made me grin, and the last two had me nodding my head at how spot-on they were.