To Put It Differently
by Natan Zach

Poetry chooses choice things, carefully selecting
select words, arranging,
fabulously, things arranged. To put it differently
is hard, if not out of the question.

Poetry's like a clay plate. It's broken easily
under the weight of all those poems. In the hands
of the poet, it sings. In those of others, not only
doesn't it sing, it's out of the question.
Translated by Translated from the Hebrew by Peter Cole

From Volume 192, Number 1, April 2008

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