Tali Cohen Shabtai: Poem
קוֹרוֹנָה,מִי אָמַר?/טְלִי כּהן שַׁבְּתָאִי
אַל נָא תִּכְעַס שַׁאֲנִי אוֹהֶבֶת אֶת הַתִּינוֹקוֹת
שֶׁלָּנוּ שֶׁאֵינָם.
הַחֲלוּמוֹת שֶׁלִּי חַיָּבִים לְקַבֵּל בִּטּוּי
בַּעֵת סוֹף הָעוֹלָם
אֱלֹהִים הִתְעַיֵּף,אַתְּ
מְבִינה?
אַיֵּן לְאָן לִנְסֹעַ
כְּשֶׁהַנְצַח מֻגְדָּר מְחָדָּשׁ
בִּטְוַח שֶׁל
מֵאָה מָטָר בין
אָדָם לְאָדָם
הַמַּגֵּפָה הַזּוּ הִיא סֶקְסִית-
מַרְתִּיעָה,מַתְרִיעָה וּמְמִיתָה
אֵין דָּרַךְ טוֹבָה יוֹתֵר
לִצְחֹק ע ל הַבְּרִיּוֹת
בְּאוֹפָן
הֵרוֹאִי שֶׁכְּזֶה
בַּעֵת שֶׁחָגִים אֶת יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם
וּתְבוּסָתוֹ שֶׁל פָּרְעָה
בְּאָבִיב אַלְפַּיִם וְעֶשְׂרִים
Who said Corona?
Don’t get upset because I loved
Our gone babies .
At the end of time and the universe my dream must
Be expressed
God got tired
Do you understand?
No place to travel to
As the infinity is being determined
Anew in a range of
One hundred meter
From one person to another
This outbreak is really quite sexy
Alerting, warning and killing
No better way
To laugh at the people
In such heroic way
When we celebrate our exodus
And the collapse of Pharaoh
In the spring of two thousand twenty.
Translated from Hebrew by: Eitan Medini
*Tali Cohen Shabtai, is a poet, she was born in Jerusalem, Israel. She began writing poetry at the age of six, she had been an excellent student of literature. She began her writings by publishing her impressions in the school’s newspaper. First of all she published her poetry in a prestigious literary magazine of Israel ‘Moznayim’ when she was fifteen years old.
Tali has written three poetry books: Purple Diluted in a Black’s Thick, (bilingual 2007), Protest (bilingual 2012) and Nine Years Away From You (2018).
Tali’s poems expresses spiritual and physical exile. She is studying her exile and freedom paradox, her cosmopolitan vision is very obvious in her writings. She lived some years in Oslo Norway and in the U.S.A. She is very prominent as a poet with a special lyric, "she doesn’t give herself easily, but subject to her own rules".
Tali studied at the "David Yellin College of Education" for a bachelor's degree. She is a member of the Hebrew Writers Association and the Israeli Writers Association in the state of Israel.
In 2014, Cohen Shabtai also participated in a Norwegian documentary about poets' lives called "The Last Bohemian"- "Den Siste Bohemien",and screened in the cinema in Scandinavia. By 2020, her fourth book of poetry will be published which will also be published in Norway. Her literary works have been translated into many languages as well.
