Verbal Abuse

ELISHA PORAT

"So, have you seen it?" asked the journalist
on the phone. "Not yet," I reply.
"It doesn't matter, read it now. I just love
the way the press can hit so hard."
And I, who have written tens of thousands
of superfluous words, have never even once
succeeded in throwing a punch,
and I haven't seen the arms
of a single reader raised
against me in self-defense.

Translated from the Hebrew by Cindy Eisner Spring 2007

Elisha Porat writes on a kibbutz in Israel.

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