Poems carved in stone - J'lem poetry festival

Poets, accompanied by musicians, will read their poetry among the houses and alleys of Nahlaot and the city center.

By ASI GAL
Jerusalem. There's something about it. Hard to explain, it seems even the most secular of people enjoy the other-worldly atmosphere of the Old City, the crazies at Hanevi'im square and the maze of Jerusalem stone houses in the neighborhoods. Poetry. There's something about it. Its rhythm, the flow of words, the ideas left to each consumer to decipher and accept and/or reject, renders it magical to almost everyone. The Jerusalem poetry group Ktovet (Address) has combined these two ingredients into one magical experience in the first Jerusalem poetry festival "Meter by Meter" in which poets, accompanied by musicians, read their poetry among the houses and alleys of Nahlaot and the city center. Among the festival's major events are Chaim Gouri, Tzvi Atzmon, Efrat Mishory and Erez Biton reading at the community administration in the heart of the city, with musical accompaniment by Amir Lev; Hamutal Bar Yosef and Yulia Viner will read and discuss their poetry at the house of the Yeshua family in Nahlaot; a conversation about poetry about the Hebrew language and the language of poetry will take place between the godparents of poetry translation Prof. Shimon Zandbank and Lilach Lachman at the Tmol Shilshom café; and Prof. Uri Bernstein, Yair Eldan, Yochai Oppenheimer, Sivan Har Shefi and Orit Meital present a picture of the 21st century family via their poetry along with music by Yossi Babliki at the museum of Italian Judaism. Hemi Rodner closes the festival with a unique acoustic show at the museum's piazza. The Meter by Meter festival runs from July 15 to 17. For more information visit www.poetryplace-festival.org