A poem for revolutions - In a destroyed Kfar Shalem and the expelling of Jaffa / Mati Shemoelof

Written in the wake of events in Kfar Shalem and Jaffa in January 2011, Mati Shemoelof’s poem addresses his mother and imagines a well-fed rat consuming the history and culture of ordinary people. Dedicated to the Egyptian people, it calls for solidarity and resistance.

Photo - By Mona - Feb8-3:34pm, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13249742

Mati Shemoelof’s poem connects the destruction of Kfar Shalem and the displacement of Jaffa’s residents with the Egyptian uprising of January 2011, calling for solidarity against the forces that erase people’s histories.

By +972 Magazine January 30, 2011

Listen, Momma:

A well-fed white rat

Persuaded the inspector

To eat along with the builder

To feed the politician

To bed down with the judge

And flatten the people’s history.

A big rat, Momma,

I swear I saw her nibbling at the rubble

Hungrily,

Excreting the culture that eats

Without ever being satisfied.

And why do I tell you all this, Momma?

Maybe because I feel it can’t go on like this,

We have to stand together.

Confront the rat

And shout out the pain of those nibbles.

You’re right, Momma,

We are not rats.

But the stigma on our bodies,

The rubble before our eyes,

Have come across to my daughter

Who asks how we never

Did

A thing.

—————————–

Mati Shemoelof is an Israeli poet, editor, and social activists. This poem, written following current events in Kfar Shalem and Jaffa, was translated from Hebrew by Dena Shunra, and dedicated by the author to the Egyptian people

First published on 30 January 2011, in +972 Magazine.

Category - Poetry, Poetry Anthologies

Tags

Mati Shemoelof, +972 Magazine, Poetry, A Poem for Revolutions, Kfar Shalem, Jaffa, Egypt, Egyptian Revolution, Arab Spring, January 2011, Israeli Poetry, Hebrew Poetry, Political Poetry, Protest Poetry, Social Justice, Displacement, Evictions, Urban Development, Mizrahi Identity, Israeli Society, Palestinian History, Collective Memory, Resistance, Solidarity, Dena Shunra, Translation, Revolution.

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