Agneta Falk Hirschman [Sweden / USA]

 

 

 

 The Love of Other
 
          In the dark times will there also be singing?
          Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times. 
                                                 Bertold Brecht                                                                                                                                       
 
Such a gift to be born
that first breath
of a perfectly innocent being
without a scrap of hate
just waiting to be nourished
grow and reach for the light
one little heart, one little brain
eager to learn.
 
What a gift to be given
what an opportunity to wipe
the slate clean of hatred
and racial bile, to cut
the umbilical cord
to the murderous past
with the only weapon
worth carrying
 
the love of other.
 
 
 
Dancing on a Wing of Breath
 
The wind brought me here
to a hidden corner
on a stony beach
something about the light
the sky, the sea
melting in to one, into me
the pounding waves
sounding like I feel inside
and there she is, my mother
and all the mothers before her
dancing on a wing of breath
becoming my breath
and nothing can stop me now
from releasing a torrent of tears
for all those who’ve passed
and for those wandering over the earth
in search of a home
where bombs don’t fall.
 
 

Gaza Eyes
 
Inside the child’s eye
as far as you can see
there’s innocence
deeper than thought
deeper than memory
huddling in the dark
 
an eyelash for an eye
a whimper for a bang
torn up earth
 
O David
O Goliath
 
O deep stupid
 
what is there now
but rubble and blood
and the birth of more war
 
nothing more nakedly true
than a child’s eye:
 
WAR IS INSANITY
 
and you with your big boots
with star spangled weapons
made out of crusty, old fear
don’t you know?
you’re turning the Star of David
into a boomerang
for your own child’s eye
 
 
  
 
Author’s Bionote:
 
*Agneta Falk Hirschman was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1946. She’s a poet, visual artist, translator and editor, who’ve lived in England for thirty years, where she taught Drama and creative writing. She was also a co-director of Word Hoard, a literature development agency, promoting writing in the community and organizing poetry festivals. For the past twenty five years she’s lived in San Francisco, USA. She’s has five volumes of poetry, as well as the co-editor of the”The Long Pale Corridor”, an anthology of bereavement poetry (Bloodaxe Press) and other anthologies. She’s also represented in many anthologies world wide. Her work is translated into many languages, and she’s participated in International Poetry Festivals in Italy, Colombia, Peru, Iraq, Sarajevo, San Francisco, China, Switzerland, Vietnam, France and Portugal. She’s a founding member of POP (Poets of the Planet). She exhibits her paintings in the USA as well as in Europe, and her work is represented in many public and private collections. In 2018 she was the recipient of an International Poetry Award in Italy, the Regina Coppola Award. Her latest book “Fall and Fly” was published 2023, and her forthcoming book of poetry will be published by Lithic Press later this year.