From “On the Anthology of the 7th Jerusalem Poetry Festival”
November 1, 2006
In the poem ‘The Status of Teachers’ Rami Saari lends his voice to a mute, anonymous teacher; his language is also hers, laying out her existential and professional distress before a faceless public:
For years I have read, studied, observed
and lived. True, they pay me
slave wages, my fate seems to hang
on financial committees, on slam dunks
from above. But what I do here every day
returns to me and you like a boomerang
Saari here underscores the social role of the poet who may sometimes relinquish his personal voice in order to reveal those of others who are less often heard. But in contrast to the seething but joyful mash of voices Someck offers up, Saari’s monologue advances step by step toward sarcasm, towards cynicism, the well-known refuge of the helpless. The last words in the poem express a bitter coming to terms with the situation, without hope for change, because the faceless crowd addressed by the speaker has long since ceased to listen:
The bell is about to ring.
I am finishing up.
You’d better take this into account.
There are places which respect their teachers,
for example,
Australia.
Written by Lyor Shternberg and translated by Lisa Katz, Published by Poetry International Web
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