Yehuda Amichai is Israel's most popular poet as well as a literary figure of international reputation. In this revised and expanded collection, ren...
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Nov 15, 2010
The Awdude
rated it: 
I don't read a lot of poetry, so I don't know enough about it to be able to recommend a poet to someone who does read a lot of poetry, but if I did then I would still probably recommend Yehuda Amichai. He's an Israeli poet (apparently they really dig poetry in Israel) and most of his poems are about his nation being at war with everyone for, like, ever. Some of the poems fell flat for me (mostly because I wasn't familiar with most of the obscure religious references peppered throughout), but o
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Apr 28, 2010
David
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Reading Bloch's translation of Amichai's poems from the 1970s again, I can see that he is my favorite poet, an all around human being in his poems, somebody who writes out of his important and basic relationships to parents, children, wives, friends, city, country, landscapes, seascapes & God. It is fascinating because when he writes he is seemingly only concerned with these basic connections, and this is a quality one would expect to find all over the place, but is not found all over the More...
Jun 02, 2007
Sandra
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I heard Amichai speak when he was still alive, in Ohio, in 1997? 1998? and bought his book (this translation, which is the best (I have two others). Amichai, a wonderful Jewish poet, was a sincere, very humble, and very smart man. To see him read was a pleasure. More than anyone, in how many readings, I can't say. He was one of the best, I've ever seen, so HUMANE, if that means anything. Totally struck me and had me thinking for weeks about what it meant to be a writer, I mean to REALLY liv
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Sep 12, 2011
Cara
rated it:
By way of a "review," I'll simply copy out one of the shorter poems:
Fields of Sunflowers
Fields of sunflowers, ripe and withering,
don't need the warmth of the sun anymore,
they're brown and wise already. They need
sweet shadow, the inwardness
of death, the interior of a drawer, a sack
deep as the sky. Their world to come
the innermost dark of a dark house,
the inside of a man.
Oh . . . okay, maybe a few a More...
Fields of Sunflowers
Fields of sunflowers, ripe and withering,
don't need the warmth of the sun anymore,
they're brown and wise already. They need
sweet shadow, the inwardness
of death, the interior of a drawer, a sack
deep as the sky. Their world to come
the innermost dark of a dark house,
the inside of a man.
Oh . . . okay, maybe a few a More...
Nov 25, 2011
God has pity on kindergarten children.
He has less pity of school children.
And on grownups he has no pity at all,
he leaves them alone,
and sometimes they must crawl on all fours
in the burning sand
to reach the first-aid station
covered with blood.
from "God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children"
He has less pity of school children.
And on grownups he has no pity at all,
he leaves them alone,
and sometimes they must crawl on all fours
in the burning sand
to reach the first-aid station
covered with blood.
from "God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children"
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Oct 14, 2011
Bruno
rated it:
I love his simple yet beautifully thought prose. It transports you to a different world. I recommend the poem "The real hero"
Jan 12, 2011
A pity....
I am in love with this poet right now. I'm always late to the party but this discovery is my favorite of 2010.
I am in love with this poet right now. I'm always late to the party but this discovery is my favorite of 2010.
Mar 12, 2009
Steven
rated it: 
this was not a very good translation. I love Amichai but not this translation.
Aug 16, 2008
Sigfried
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This is the only book of poetry that ever made me cry. I don't cry. What worries me is that this is all translated from Hebrew...so who should I really thank? Yehuda or the translators? I just found another reason to cry...damn.
Jan 28, 2008
Jenna
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Perfect poems concerning sex, love, war, family, nation, and the other essentials. Profound, lucidly written, and rife with complex, sensuous metaphors that really *catch*. I aspire to write poems like these some day.
Aug 01, 2008
Shana
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Amichai's imagery, be it biblical, political, sexual, or all of the above, is so vivid and functional--both dreamlike and utilitarian. He is one of my favorite poets.
Dec 16, 2009
Amy
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his poetry speaks to the life caught in the midst of the conflict in palestine/israel. this one's for those of you who are searching for something human in the middle of war ...
Dec 17, 2009
Tracy O
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The poems in here are arresting. Violence is all around, but the spirit is delicate, appreciative and kind.
Sep 17, 2011
Tony
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Uneven translations; alternating between beauty and overly sentimental, political.
Dec 24, 2008
Aria
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Beautiful. My new favorite poet. Favorite poem: In the middle of this century.
Feb 07, 2012
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