12 days in Jerusalem

1.
Harry Potter is militarist commando bullshit
so Queen Latifah
flying to her Israelite kingdom
holds a dance-off in Nablus
in support of integration
with exploding hairspray
they rampart the barricades
I can't sleep about it
we all come tumble-dry down
In the studio audience
men with beards clap enthusiastically
on the screen
we cross the M in Mediterranean Sea

2.
old mirror
new world
not a mirror
it's slightly glossy paint
bright lights
eggshell
government buildings we see from our hotel
built like mammoths
smoking Marlboros

3.
crown plaza
i see
crown city
old city
gold city
cold city
tombs of all sizes
covers divide us
and may we walk through the middle of the crowds unmolested
as if on dry land
Canada Dry

4.
Today's Jerusalem Post
85% of Haredi men don’t work
education the worst of developed countries
"we are a country at war"
suave visage
Shrine of the Book
the church of the holy seppuku
is holy like a bagel

5.
A giant wind blew over the security fence
then I heard them 10 floors up, over the highway
drunk, angry, swearing in English, black hats
into the taxi
toxic epiphany
gift gas
grim pill
foreskin forsaking

"there were no unusual incidents the
unit returned to the camp with
a satisfied feeling"


6.
at Damascus Gate
piles of shoes

if they ask me for my papers
give them the International Herald-Tribune

7.
nuclear ruthlessness
"turned to salt and other chemicals"
standing but left men
you know the type
"no cookies allowed" dinner theatre
traffic crumbs "know
hope" for the future

8.
rain in Jerusalem runs
down to the dead sea
washes out a bridge
cuts a gulley
is pumped into evaporation pools
leaving salt
and other chemicals
dried sweat
lowest point on earth
floated like a stoppered bottle
under the moab mountains
ibex i spied
hills of lambs
& corrugated steel camps
but the traffic never stops outside
the bureau of international security

9.
on TV
a comedy about a journalist
who thinks he's being held hostage
in the bathroom
by two friendly but bumbling Arabs
Rockets strike Sderot
faculty strikes kill term
air strikes kill members of Islamic Jihad
Ethiopians cry racism
Iran gets Russian uranium
& is still a threat
coalition partners say no to cute well-mannered homosexuals adopting
Israel Survivor
“we must save the Jewish family”

10.
at breakfast, which starts at 6:30
the waiters are very tired
the guests are very tired too
and grumpy pregnant constipated and
in urgent need of
cheese omelets

11.
Hamas holds a rally says
"will not recognize” our love
they don't know it's
chemical messengers in mud
soaking the scrolls
in the canopic jars
( buildings? bodies? )
and outside the separation wall
empty highrises

“40 years of a united city”
receding by the sea
seen from the Renaissance Hotel
real estate rising still
I thought the orange trees were very pretty
but who will share the milk and honey
"it's a boy, have a beer"
make mine a Maccabee

12.
8 million metres into the nose
somebody, maybe Petersen
worries he's taken a wrong turn