Karen Alkalay Gut Poems

Because it demands you think of words
Not to convey information
And perhaps to lie,
Like so many users of words
...

The three young men and the woman
At the table next to us
Are eating Chinese
And speaking Arabic
...

This is where
The gender difference
Becomes clear.
The way a man steps in
...

Strange we don't think about those who care about us
But spend our days worrying about those who don't.
I like to imagine that on their deathbeds
...

The patients with brain injuries
Sit in the common space
At the end of the hall
Where they have been placed.
...

The woman sitting on the top step
held her head in her hands
and
her tears
...

The neurosurgeon who is probing
With her ultrasound needle
For the place in my spinal column
Where the terrible pain begins
...