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Hebrew for Beginners

By on April 30, 2013

A141 moon poem

Written by Arturo Desimone. Arturo is a first-time Jewrotica writer.

HEBREW FOR BEGINNERS (PHONETIC, 1a)

Rated PGI love you by light of moon
we call Levanah I love you at sea
we referred to as al-ha-yam If you look at the sea you should
then look at me look at me and say
“Ani mistakel al ha yam”
it’s an ancient incantation
older than Tanach if you say it slow
it arouses
desire but also
a god of the sea
whose name was Yam he fell sadly crushed
to the strong-armed
wonder-man Baal don’t betray my secret
don’t say I know their names—
they are banned
by halacha and also
Shin Bet:
the Shin Bet labels them
a SECURITY THREAT
so I write on a scroll
in Phoenician alphabet
and you keep it under
the weight of your breast,
round and glowing in Levanah.
I love you over the riddle
filling our cups
you call the riddle wine
the Arabs and Persians call it Sharab the true word is Yayn no wonder that it rhymes
with Ayn, the most ancient letter
of lost love songs, recently edited out by the Shin Bet,
another security threat.

ain’t no wonder it rhymes
that red riddle
chaos of the grape
is conducive to poetry
and versification’s toil
over master of the arid earth
under the moon
Levanah
look at me and say something romantic
not the boring Francais oui
say
Ani, ani (I, I)
and there I propped anise seed between your teeth
your sleepy arms and breasts
smell of wine and under kisses rhyme
kissed by the lips of me and my timid brother Yam, the sea—
under Levanah

(repeat this five times, Hebrew for Beginners one, phonetic.)

Arturo was born in Aruba, emigrated to the Netherlands as a young adult and now lives in Argentina. Arturo is inspired to write about the sexual, political and religious.
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