2006
Poetry Between Hazaz and Shemoelof
Poetry Between Hazaz and Shemoelof
Poetry
Mati Shemoelof
Yaron Golan Publishers, Tel Aviv, 2006
Language: Hebrew
Poetry Between Hazaz and Shemoelof is Mati Shemoelof’s second poetry collection and a major stage in the development of his Mizrahi poetic identity.
The book brings together personal memory, family history, political criticism and an ongoing dialogue with earlier generations of Hebrew and Mizrahi poetry. Shemoelof places his own voice in conversation with writers and poets who shaped the possibilities of Mizrahi expression in Hebrew.
The collection is marked by a direct political language while also searching for a new poetic relationship to Jewish-Arab history, Israeli identity and the cultural divisions within Israeli society.
The book received third place in the Haifa Cultural Foundation’s poetry competition.
Reception
The book generated a substantial critical and literary response. Reviews and discussions appeared in Haaretz, Iton 77, Kedma and other literary publications. Among them were essays by Omri Herzog, Almog Behar, Iris Mizrahi and Eli Eshed.
Aryeh Aharoni, translator and editor at Sifriat Poalim, wrote of the collection:
“Mati Shemoelof’s poetry-cry is, first and foremost, a stance against the ‘split personality’ of the reality in which we live.”
The collection received support from the Haifa Foundation for Culture and a grant from AHI, the Association for the Encouragement of Literary and Artistic Research, founded by Jews of Iraqi origin. Published in 2006, it became one of the important books of Mizrahi poetry in Israel.
The phrase “A Third Possibility for Poetry,” taken from the opening poem, later became the title of Dr. Ketzia Alon’s groundbreaking book on Mizrahi poetry—the first study to formulate a methodology for reading and understanding Mizrahi poetry in Israel.
Selected poems
Book details
Title: Poetry Between Hazaz and Shemoelof
Original title: שירה בין חזז לבין שמואלוף
Author: Mati Shemoelof
Publisher: Yaron Golan Publishers
Year: 2006
Language: Hebrew
Genre: Poetry