Big, Black Mother

Corpuses of Tradition in Yaacov Bitton’s PoetryBig, Poetry

Abstract

The poetry of Yaacov Bitton is signed by the name of a father, written in the language of a great (black) mother, resonating the experience of tradition, as embedded, however, in the being of a son; it is ambivalent of its nature—wild and yet devoted, loyal and resisting, giving a voice, attesting to the liturgical depth of Hebrew, while testifying to its crisis, its moments of birth and dead-ends. Our reading of these poems cannot deny their sensual force and affect, in which the drama of the akeda (the binding of Isaac), the associations of Shir Ha Shirim (The Song of Songs), the cycles of Hebrew prayer, Biblical prophecies and the ancient tale find a rare echo. Not many contemporary poets, if at all, write like Bitton, resonating the call, the cry hineni (here I am) with such devotion and self-negation. His poetry is dark and therefore so bright.