Monday, January 12, 2009

Desert Sexual Tension Days

It doesn't seem right to write about anything but the war while people are still dying, but since a Palestinian friend of mine just posted something about wanting to take piano lessons, I take the cue from him and declare a humanitarian ceasefire.

It's hardly a ceasefire, because a new war is on its way. The Annual "Desert Poetry Days" festival is coming this weekend, promising drama. This festival, taking place in secluded Sde Boker, on the rim of a lovely canyon, is always a battleground. The poets start off by fighting about poetry. The various generations and cliques clash, if not on stage, then around the past-midnight whisky bottle.

Then there's social tension within and between the groups. in a small creative community such as Israel's, forced friendships last for too long and are good fodder for misplaced frustrations. Ego cluster bombs explode: someone suddenly vanishes to protest having been dissed, someone else calls someone else's poetry "bullshit" to a third person who snitches. An hommage for a dead poet ends with participants being blamed for pretending to be her friends only now that she died and the blamed blaming the blamers for blaming.

Then there's the romantic baggage.

Unlike the Metula Poetry festival, Israel's snobbier, northern verse-fest, Desert Poetry Days shuns snobbism. In Metula, the young, avant garde croud is invited only selectively. In Sde Boker all are welcome to take part in a poetry cabaret. Dorm rooms with capacity of 6 beds are provided for poetry's troublemakers. At least one of them will house no less than nine young spirits for the duration of the weekend. The couple combinations are bound to change mid festival, if not mid-night. Parties at the adjacent kibbutz have been known to fuel the fire, the chill of the wintery desert nights gives it a further kick. Forget poetry, this is a sexy time of year.

Two of my relationships of the passing year began at that festival. Both broke up and in each case one of the parties was hurt badly. now we'll all be there together again. Let me chart out the disaster for you:

-A met me before going to the festival.
-B met A at the festival last year,
-C and E met me at the festival last year.
-D met C and E at the festival last year, hit on E and had a small thing with C.
-B dated C for a few months.
-E and me had a short affair.
-C broke up with B and dated me.
-B hooked up with A. C left me and is now dating F (D's nemesis).
-I am now avoiding C and F.
-G and me developed an interest in each other, but it didn't work out.
-G now avoids me, but will be at the festival,
-as will A,B,C,D and E (F may come too).
-E tells me she's uncomfortable about staying in the same room with D and H
-(D had a thing with J, an ex of both B and previously unmentioned K,
-while H seriously hit on L, A's former good friend, whom she now avoids).
-E prefers to stay with me, M, and N, one of whom once desired C,
-But that bed is already reserved for G, who now avoids me.

Besides, this would just be too mad. I tell E that she should sort it out for herself because things are way damn complicated as they are, and if I could avoid going to the desert I would, but I'm being paid to coordinate a panel and MC an evening with Amos Oz. Wish me luck, brothers and sisters. Hebrew poet Alterman warned his daughter: "Preserve yourself from what is near / like gravel and like sky". In a terrain of much gravel and much sky, I'll do my best.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Following my M & M incident last night, I'd leave out E's and Wizz...

יובל בן-עמי Yuval Ben-Ami said...

I never said the Minzar was any less of a dangerous place.

Jael said...

Gosh, Yuval, you seem to have a pretty complicated love life....Good luck at the Desert festival!

יובל בן-עמי Yuval Ben-Ami said...

It can withstand a few more complications still.

DCheslow said...

Yuval I don't even know if I would get to the letter B in recounting my love life...kol hakavod for keeping enough going on for the rest of the Israeli blogosphere.

My hopes of meeting the love of my life in a Beer Sheva bomb shelter have thus been in vain.

יובל בן-עמי Yuval Ben-Ami said...

Well, how can bomb shelters compete with the fresh air of Sde Boker? You're only forty minutes away, come down over the weekend! You already know most letters of the alphabet, that shoud be helpful in trying to make the best of a poetry festival.

And please, I was only involved with C and E, both of them charming girls I took very seriously. This isn't supposed to make me look like Lawrence of Casanovia.

Unknown said...

It's too yellow, mate.

יובל בן-עמי Yuval Ben-Ami said...

while I did win praise for having mixed the gossip column and the crossword puzzle, I argue this post is not too yellow at all. Everyone is mentioned only by a letter and the bearers of the letters, who recognize themselves, know most of the stories anyway. The festival itself was absolutely gorgeous.

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