Are These My Lions? is a collection of poems written by Daniel E. Levenson� during July and August of 2006 in Jerusalem, Israel while he was a student at Pardes Institute. They reflect the poet’s experience of living in an ancient city during modern times, where the old and the new frequently intersect as mopeds and trucks race down narrow alleyways near the Old City and donkey carts collide with tourist buses.
Days are spent studying ancient texts in an air-conditioned room over looking the city, while at night the poet sits alone in his room listening to fireworks from Arab weddings or wandering home from a bar at 4 AM through empty streets. All of these ideas come together, mixing in the cauldron of perception and experience. The result is this book.
Selected poems from Are These My Lions?
Afternoon Shabbat
This was a Mistake
You are not at Delphi
A Missile Hits a Tank
Wandering in the Valley of Ghosts
Read Daniel’s poem “Evolution Blues” which appears as part of the Dudley House Literary Arts Program online writing forum.
