Amir Or, Izrael

Amir Or, poet, translator, and editor, is the author of seven volumes of poetry, as well as The Song of Tahira(2001), a fictional epic in metered prose. His poems have been published in more than 30 languages, as well as in eight volumes published in English and other European languages. He has been awarded the Prime Minister’s Prize, the Bernstein Prize, and a Fulbright Award, among others; as well as Fellowships from the University of Iowa, the Jewish-Hebrew Centre of the University of Oxford, The Literarische Colloquium, Fondación Valparaiso, and the Heinrich Böll Foundation. His later poetry books include Day which takes its cue from and interprets the Jewish Prayer book, and the bilingually written The Museum of Time, consisting of mental pictures and the species memory. He has translated from Greek, Latin, English and Japanese.

In 1993, Amir Or established the Arabic-Hebrew Helicon Poetry School and developed the school’s pioneering integrated methodologies in a series of subjects. Or is a founding member of the European Network of Creative Writing Programs and serves as national coordinator of the U.N.-sponsored Poets for Peace.

Hëna

bisha mes këmbëve të mia i gulçon
bishës mes këmbëve tua.

hëna mes dhëmbëve të mia i gulçon
hënës në zemrën tënde.

bisha në zemrën time të erëmon përherë.

Moon

The animal between my legs howls
to the animal between your legs.

The moon between my teeth howls
to the moon in your heart.

The animal in my heart smells you always.

(Translated by Fiona Sampson and the author)

Translated from English into Albanian Fahredin Shehu