A Wreath of War Gogyohka* by Robert Findysz (War Again: October 2023) this time a massive assault if only from Gaza Hamas terror cells come by sea, overland, in the air thousands of rockets falling randomly everywhere so many butchered, elderly, women, babies too even more are wounded, civilian and military hundreds of hostages swept underground (When Will It Ever End) I breathe in a deep, dark tunnel not a ray of light at the other end never liked going through such funnels the on-going nightmare blurs my focus I am trapped within a dense fog (En Route to Evacuated Nitzan) sky blue cluttered by peevish clouds long hedges of lilac-on-silver cenizo roadside bougainvillea in a riot of flavors checkerboards of unharvested cotton Chinese flame trees in a flush of rust tones (Golden Crescent in a Dark Velvet Night) two Israeli hostages are released American citizenship seems to pay off the other 200 some remain out of sight a scimitar swinging over their heads (Waiting for a Ground Invasion of Gaza) vines on the stone wall are turning carmine as a Sanguine Moon blushes above the city an open bottle of rosé sits on the Sabbath table homemade challah on a wooden cutting board flowers of the season in a Polish crystal vase lit candlesticks pierce the smothering unknown (Bring Them Home Now) cheered on by the pale Hunter's Moon a withering easterly blusters and shrieks tail winds urging ground incursions into Gaza before or instead of a full force invasion to exact retribution for unspeakable atrocities neuter Hamas, free all hostages * Gogyohka: a five (or four or six) line, modern Japanese poetic form, unrhymed, each line only one phrase of any length, originally untitled. – Bob Findysz, Kibbutz Palmach-Tzuba Copyright Bob Findysz October 2023
Born in Chicago, raised in the suburbs, Bob Findysz went to Israel after completing graduate work at the University of Chicago: married, lived in a small desert community for a few years before settling in Jerusalem, later moving to a nearby kibbutz where his wife and he remain with three grown children and nine grandchildren all living within easy driving distance.Retired at 67 after forty-some years of teaching English to Israeli high school and university students, with periodic leaves-of-absence, Bob is now writing for himself; his poems have appeared in anthologies and journals, printed and electronic, since 2017.
