by Scot Siegel
His mother’s name was Diane. Remember
Moshe Dayan? Covert Jew in kafiyah?
Ben-Gurion protégé with a black eye
patch? Led Israel to victory
in a Six-Day war? His mother loved
him. Remember the way he stood by his men
astride a tank with one arm in the air
and that crooked smile under a
perfect sky? After Hitler, who could
blame him? After the Holocaust they
needed a hero… He wanted to be
Dayan. It didn’t matter that he was
from America. He wanted to enlist
in Israel’s army, fight in Israel’s honor…
Because his mother said: The Arabs are
crazy and want to kill Jews ––
That was forty years ago. His mother’s lost,
a ghost now. He doesn't talk about Arabs
like that anymore. Because everything is
different now. Isn’t it.
Scot Siegel lives in Oregon. In his day job he works as an urban planning consultant. Siegel’s poetry books include Some Weather (Plain View Press, 2008), Untitled Country (Pudding House Publications, 2009), and Skeleton Says (forthcoming from Finishing Line Press). A second full-length collection is forthcoming from Salmon Poetry in early 2012. Siegel serves on the board of trustees of the Friends of William Stafford and edits the online poetry journal Untitled Country Review.
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