Two by Tali Cohen Shabtai

 Two

I don’t listen to songs 

in which 

the soloist thinks in twos 

and because 

there are two halves to both the buttocks 

and the brain.

Last night, the vendor 

at the bookstore 

offered me a book called "A Collection of  Love Poems " 

and I turned him down.

They are no different 

than pretty letters that acted as 

a roof for two

between a sender and a recipient, in most of whom

lack 

an address.

This sentimentality should not

be expressed 

and humanity accused because 

many people

are lonely.

However, 

to animate a loved one in writing 

she acted by taking steps – 

several

and sometimes overlapping

from characterizing (the beloved) in the elements 

as of an altar/ idol, the holy of holies

ritual and even binding

use of this exaggeration is an anecdotal distortion

If we admit the essence of the need 

for our other half according to the saying that ‘the most popular form of stimulus

is the one provided by physical closeness’

And that love does indeed distort 

the disadvantages

So let's assume that you’ve understood my approach 

to the term “love.”

Bio:

Tali Cohen Shabtai was born in Jerusalem, Israel, and is an international poet of high esteem with works translated into many languages. 

 She is the author of three bilingual volumes of poetry, "Purple Diluted in a Black’s Thick"(2007), "Protest" (2012) and "Nine Years From You"(2018).  

A fourth volume is forthcoming in 2021.  She has lived many years in Oslo, Norway, and in the U.S.A.