Ronny Someck, a poet of Tel Aviv

Published: Dec. 3, 2014, 2:01 p.m.

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Host Marcela Sulak traces the life of poet\\xa0Ronny Someck, from his origins in Baghdad to Israeli transit camps to Tel Aviv, through his poetry.

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Life in the transit camps in the 1950s was difficult, as described in the poem \'Poverty Line,\' in which Someck says, "The only line I saw was the horizon and under it everything /\\xa0looked poor."

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He\\xa0went on to study Hebrew Literature and Philosophy at Tel Aviv University. At 63 he now lives in Ramat Gan, and has been called "a poet of Tel Aviv" for poems like \'Seven Lines on the Miraculous Yarkon,\' from which Marcela reads today.

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Someck\\u2019s poetry has been translated into 41 languages, and it\\u2019s won the Prime Minister\\u2019s Award and the Yehuda Amichai Award. He\\u2019s recorded three CDs with the musician Elliot Sharp, and has published two children\\u2019s books with his daughter, Shirley.

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Text:

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Keys to the Garden: New Israeli Writing. Edited by Ammiel Alcalay. San Fransico: City Lights Press, 1996.

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Further reading:

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The Fire Stays in Red: Poems by Ronny Someck, translated by Moshe Dor and Barbara Goldberg. University of Wisconsin Press, 2002.

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Music:

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Salima Murad Pasha -\\xa0This is not just on your behalf

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\'Poverty Line\' by Ronny Someck, sung by Hanan Yovel

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\'Glida\' by Ronny Someck, sung by Talma for The Middle East Project

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