The first four letters of the Ashuri alphabet; using the font DavkaStam. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hebrew Lessons

—Michael Dickel
מיכאל דקל

Learning Hebrew in Ulpan

The histories we tell now
won’t change the orbit
of the earth; stories create
worlds as words spin
out of control.

 Each language separates
one planet from another.

 I have become a knee אני. How,
an ache איך. Why, a llama למה
climbing some mountain.

 To give to him, is low לו; it’s also no.
 To hear him, sigh: oh, toe אותו.
To speak with him, though,
eat toe איתו. Wait for me
on the lee לי side of this island

 we nameworld. He will worry,
ye dog ידאג. If I’m not mistaken,
it all slips into a stone tower
on a desert with planets
reflecting time without.

 I hear the language I know,
even while learning another.
I know the language I learned,
even while hearing another.
We will worry. Knee. Dog נדאג.

 Forgetting (spoken by a man to a woman)

Ache. A knee.

You call.
Leash, coke.
Oh, tack!

איך אני
?יכול לשכוח אותך

How can I
forget you?
Changing the world (spoken by a woman)
A knee. Roads, ah.
Lay. Shh. Uh, note
it. Halo am. I want
to change the world.

אני רוצה
.לשנות את העולם

.

Let’s look for him (spoken to a woman)

Boy, nightcap. Pass.
Oh, toe. Vanity bare.
Eat. Oh? Come, let’s look
for him and speak
with him.

בואי
נחפש
אותו ונדבר
.איתו

We need to fix it (spoken by a woman to a man)

A mart.
Lick cache.
A knock. Newts.
A reeking. Lay,
take it. Say:
my shy shoe?

אמרת לך אנחנו
,צריכים לתקן את זה
.מישהו

I told you we
need to fix
it, something.

No change

Low machine, eh? Say:
parachute my speak.

.לו משנה
.זה פשוט מספיק

It doesn’t matter.
(No change).
It’s simple enough.

He agrees. She agrees.

Who,
mask scheme.
He agrees.

.הו מסכים

He, mask
schema.

.היא מסכימה

She agrees.

©2012 Michael Dickel
Originally appeared in Words to run with (January 22, 2012).

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