HaifaHolyLandBreakBreadHouse

Hav-a Haifa’s mellifluous flavors of ancient dusty spice trails intersect,

angular twisted backstreets

echo pretzel snapshots of culture and tongue,

reverberating in a HebrewArabicFarsiSpanishEnglish

tossed salad of ongoing commentaries,

sprinkled with sun-leavened ruddy sea breezes

and schmeared with Israeli mashugana sauna baths,

where plentiful shekels melt then dissolve into self esteem

a singular city of generational centuries,

constructed from continuous waves of self-creation and rebirth:

Shalom and welcome to HaifaHolyLandBreakBreadHouse!

where everybody’s a member

where nobody’s a foreigner

where there’s no cover charge

where a cacophony of voices converges

then stumbles into crazy abstract harmonies

this is a bustling city

featuring intersecting waves of bearded venders

who become stagnant,

then mistrustful,

then aggressive,

then paranoid leaking apologetic guilt,

then ramble on with remorse

unraveling into some HolyLand catharsis

and bystanders gather,

bees to blossoms,

as if beckoned by a ragamuffin flute or clarinet,

or enticed by four folk dancing sisters

adorned in long red Russian sarafans

adorning a song about

Yosef and longhaired Miriam 

swimming naked in the Mediterranean

buoyed by their wet hugs 

and fervent kisses 

but from these enchanted ablutions

wisdom and illumination eventually emerge

caressing all who continue to dream forward,

who continue to wonder and fathom,

as long before and once again

these intimate biblical trails crisscross,

inevitably and unintendedly converging into Haifa

Haifa/Delray Beach

6/27/18