Steven Sher
A Bomb Shelter in Jerusalem
July 14, 2014
When sirens shake the city's calm,
we descend three flights, grandkids in arm,
to join our neighbors in the basement shelter;
imagine rockets climbing the Judean hills
will pull us from this life like bodies from rubble.
In the crowded shelter, parents stand
and calmly talk along the walls. Children
in pajamas playing, some barefoot
on the cold cement, claim the center space.
Older siblings hold the very young.
When the time is almost up, some restless
boys have made a game of jumping,
seeing who can touch the ceiling--
pretend they’re intercepting missiles,
crushing our fears with their bare hands.
Steven Sher is a native of NYC (who lived for many years in the Pacific Northwest and now lives in Jerusalem). He is the the author of 15 books including, most recently, Uncharted Waters (New Feral Press, 2017), The House of Washing Hands (Pecan Grove Press, 2014) and Grazing on Stars: Selected Poems (Presa Press, 2012). Since the 1970s, his poetry and prose have appeared in hundreds of journals worldwide; he has worked as an editor, media consultant and journalist; and he has taught at many universities and writing workshops. Current editing/consulting work includes arc (an Israel-based literary journal), World Poetry Almanac (a Mongolia-based journal) and The Jerusalem Herald (an Israel-based political commentary magazine).
A Bomb Shelter in Jerusalem
July 14, 2014
When sirens shake the city's calm,
we descend three flights, grandkids in arm,
to join our neighbors in the basement shelter;
imagine rockets climbing the Judean hills
will pull us from this life like bodies from rubble.
In the crowded shelter, parents stand
and calmly talk along the walls. Children
in pajamas playing, some barefoot
on the cold cement, claim the center space.
Older siblings hold the very young.
When the time is almost up, some restless
boys have made a game of jumping,
seeing who can touch the ceiling--
pretend they’re intercepting missiles,
crushing our fears with their bare hands.
Steven Sher is a native of NYC (who lived for many years in the Pacific Northwest and now lives in Jerusalem). He is the the author of 15 books including, most recently, Uncharted Waters (New Feral Press, 2017), The House of Washing Hands (Pecan Grove Press, 2014) and Grazing on Stars: Selected Poems (Presa Press, 2012). Since the 1970s, his poetry and prose have appeared in hundreds of journals worldwide; he has worked as an editor, media consultant and journalist; and he has taught at many universities and writing workshops. Current editing/consulting work includes arc (an Israel-based literary journal), World Poetry Almanac (a Mongolia-based journal) and The Jerusalem Herald (an Israel-based political commentary magazine).