Take a Breath, You're Getting Excited

In the passed-out light of night

when body

melts into flesh

letters break out of us

& gaps are fired into the poem.

Take a Breath catapults you right into the frenzy spiral of Yakir Ben-Moshe's dating life. Against the backdrop of violence, war, and trauma that has always permeated Israeli society and shaped the personal as well as the political discourse, the round dance of lovers entering and exiting and re-entering the poet's life takes on a timeless quality. The passionate vows and furious arguments between Ben-Moshe and his girlfriends, their break-ups and lovemaking in sweltering and noisy Tel Aviv are both a respite from and a mirror of the upheaval and breathlessness of day-to-day life in a country whose citizens constantly expect the unexpected. Their longing for simplicity, their solitude and clamoring for attention, their wit, self-doubt and cynicism all become tangible in Dan Alter's brilliant, playful, and vibrant translation.

About the Author

Yakir Ben-Moshe, an Israeli poet of Iraqi descent, won the Prime Minister's Prize for Literature in 2012. He has published five books of poetry and one of children's literature. His poems have been translated into English, Russian, Greek, Chinese and Turkish. He lives with his wife and children in Tel Aviv, where he is the Director of the Bialik House, as well as a teacher of creative writing.

About the Translator

Dan Alter's poems, translations and reviews have been published widely; his first collection "My Little Book of Exiles" won the Poetry Prize for the 2022 Cowan Writer's Awards. "Hills Full of Holes," his second collection, will be published by Fernwood Press in 2025. He lives with his wife and daughter in Berkeley where he works at the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life.