HGP and Poet Miriam Martha Hammel - A very dear Friend
We had known Miriam and her Husband Yaacov for many years
We were like family rather, including her children. Our visits to Kiriat Motzkin were always special and precious. Enchanted moments meant to last ...
Miriams poems and writings are published with the kind permission of her son - Prof Ilan Hammel
IDENTITY
I' m Miriam Hammel, a housewife,
I'm a teacher,
I'm a writer, sort of,
I'm a poet, a versifier,
who never became pen for hire.
I'm Yaacov's wife
and I am my sons' mother,
and there is nothing
that I would be rather.
But where is little Martha,
of Schoengasse three,
door number twenty-seven,
did she get lost
when I was eleven?
I think she is still around
when I wake up,
the morning is grey,
I catch a hazy sight
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of last night's dream,
I seem to be still there
but I am here,
I remember some fear
which isn't mine,
but little Martha's.
Maybe I should have loved her better,
perhaps from time to time
I should write her a letter.
She must have been something more
than a name to put aside,
maybe I should look at her
in a different light.
If I want to feel
still on the upper floor,
shouldn't I write first Martha,
then Miriam on my door?
(from Miriam's web-site)
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MIRIAM'S VOICES - 1.7.1923 - 6.8.2001
Poems by Miriam Martha Hammel as published in the yearbooks of " Voices Israel ", volumes 4-28
(this selection was published by Ya'aqov J. Hammel, Miriam's husband in 2002, in her Memory )
"Voices Israel" was founded in December 1972, with the publication of Vol.1 Miriam joined Voices in 1974. Her first poem was accepted for publication by the Board of Editors in 1975 and published March 1976 in volume 4.
For her introduction to the public she described herself to the editors as follows:
Miriam Hammel " feels that man's salvation lies in his own hands. She has tried to express this sentiment in her books and short stories. " - Voices Vol 4, Page 72
Excerpt from editorial note by Amiel Schotz - VOICES ISRAEL
...In between you shall find our usual stimulating mixture of sharp observation, lyricism,poetic craftsmanship and constant struggle to find expression for life's perplexities,joys and minutiae. As quite a few of our contributors advance in years, poems about aging,loss,memory and stoicism (or rage at the dying of the light) are evident. However, perhaps we should recall W. Sommerset Maugham's dictum, " Imagination grows by excercise, and contrary to common belief, it is more powerful in the mature than in the young."
In this connection,I must also mark the sad death of ... our best loved and veteran contributor ... Miriam Hammel ...
Miriam Hammel was a founder member of Voices Israel, and she had a unique voice. She could often find precise expression for thoughts that remain vague and formless for most of us as,for example, when she wrote, " She loved him/as one loves the truth/ with fear and shame". In her last contribution, "Glow", she meditates movingly on the magic in a simple stone that seems to have an inner glow, and on its ability to awaken wonder in a child, and even illuminate the kingdoms of the Gods.
I am glad,but not surprised, that our editorial board had selected her poem before we learned of her passing ...
FOR SINNERS WHO ARE BEGINNERS - Poems - 1978
FREE WILL and other short stories
A LETTER TO THE ALMIGHTY - Short Stories from Israel
NICE PEOPLE AND OTHERS - Poems
LOVERS - Poems
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NO BELLS
No bells are ringing
Six million times,
There are no chimes
Tolling the death-toll
Of slaughtered
Children and men,
There is no outcry
Up there In heaven
Or down here on earth
Which covers it all
With a carpet of flowers
'and here,' they say,
'here they lie,
and feed proud trees
that give much shade
and air and life
to their murderers.'
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Spring has come
And a baby's heart
Forever and ever
In its mother's womb
Looks up to the sky
Through the dark hearts
Of red anemones,
Up at the blue sky
With innocent clouds
Like the unborn babe
Seeking some answer,
Might it be
That hell has
No home but earth,
That life has no meaning,
Or that a Jewish hand
Must feed many a tree,
And red anemones
Need the heart
Of a baby never born,
And up there
Is a voice saying
'so be it.' |
Miriam Martha Hammel - Israel
- In Loving Memory
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