By Michelene Wandor.

◊

Bashshayt

a triple-domed mosque
bats and weeds   no trace of lives
on the hill above the village, running through ruins
stone houses      someone says this used to be an Arab village
the Arabs ran away     no-one says why
(later you read about 1948 and deserted villages)
the houses are falling down
ghosts
waiting to live in the houses again
English, Polish, Egyptian Jews cluster in new villages
surround the deserted Arab village
green prickly pears in dry rust-dusty fields
sunset rose means they are ripe             knock them off the edge of the flat leaves
with a stick
roll them in the dust to rid the larger prickles
slice along the length of the fruit                    peel the skin back
lush sweet pink, soft and sweet
eaten straight from the fruit
keep your face away
fine invisible-grey prickles lodge in your skin
how much risk is worth the agony of others

♦

Michelene Wandor is a playwright, poet, musician, cultural commentator and, most recently, novelist. Her first novel, Orfeo’s Last Act was short-listed for the Society of Authors’ Paul Torday Prize. She was the first woman to have a play on one of the National Theatre’s main stages, and has written extensively about theatre in Carry on Understudies (Routledge 1986) and Look Back in Gender (Methuen 1987; repr. Routledge 2016). Her poetry is published by Arc Publications, and her most recent collection, Ergo appeared in May, 2024. She is currently writing ‘Creative Writing, English and the Imagination’ for Palgrave.