Always repeating the same mistake - Anat Zecharia

Always repeating the same mistake
going up and down the escalators
passing shops, billboards, neon signs,
hundreds of thousands of things for sale: running shoes
a glass brooch, old-fashioned soap flakes, a small tube
short white socks, buy one, get one free.
Figuring how much food will cost, what
More there is to buy and arrange.
Not thinking precisely.
Devouring everything with pleasure, even
what can’t be enjoyed
warding off jam and carob spread.
Imagining wet borders
keeping the big city teenagers’
noise that never stops, prattling
as though every place
is the most pleasant in the world.
Hoping someone isn’t hearing this
but instead gleefully eating bread
and looking around him.
Beaming silver light and covering
the waning half-moon.
Summing up heavy things in a light tone
prettifying exactly these days
now, with what they don’t have
talking a lot leaning over water.
Crossing long legs
always ensuring the right word:
See you, hello, I am well
I have no complaints.
Trying not to be absent for too long
pouring tea, water, whiskey
In this restaurant, near the front door
saying: We ought to go to bed
developing a talent for invention
for different kinds of men.
Finding the one who resembles you
who won’t really desire. Letting him
stroke your hair before mid-September
always repeating the same mistake.
Finding out indeed you’d been right
and you should never have let this
start.

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Anat Zecharia (born 1974) Israel
Translated by Irit Sela
Source: Transcript