The Weekly Media Monitor 01.29.04: Break From The Norm

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The Weekly Media Monitor 01.29.04: Break from the Norm

With the latest influx of suicide bombings in Israel, I wanted – or perhaps should I say I needed – to take a break from my usual proceedings here at The Weekly Media Monitor.

The poem below recounts one of the most intense experiences of my life. It took me a really long time to come to grips with the fact I was in love with a girl who I knew would be leaving this country for a perpetual war zone. Even worse, I knew there was nothing I could do to change her mind about leaving, nor could she change mine about going with her.

This was written two years ago to this day, and presently I am very happy with my life in just about every aspect. After all, I have carved out this nifty little corner of the Internet world here at 411mania, and I am headed in the right direction both professionally and romantically.

However, whenever news spreads about another suicide bomb going off in Israel, as it did this week, a few fading memories creep back into my mind. I check the papers to see if she is still around, and I feel relieved when I find out – in one way or another – that she’s okay, and that she still wants to finish law school, and that she still has the drive and determination become the first female Prime Minister of Israel.

This poem is for an old friend, who happens to be way too young in my eyes to have to wonder every minute of every day when her time will come:
I was in love with an Ex-Israeli soldier
I was in love with an ex-Israeli soldier,
she was strong and passionate.

When we kissed,
her lips as warm and soft as marshmallows roasting at a campfire
refused to reveal her identity.

No, not her lips, but her eyes
her eyes had it.

In her eyes is where I saw
my Middle Eastern Rose
buried in the trenches of the desert fields
wondering if she’ll be plucked from her barren slumber,
waiting,
sharpening her thorns in the meantime.

I was in love with an ex-Israeli soldier
Who had never seen a battlefield
Nor felt the pain of war
Until she searched The New York Times
for the names and faces of friends and family members,
to check on the condolences she would be sending overseas.

I was in love with an ex-Israeli soldier
Who was in love with an Italian Roman Catholic,
an English major from Long Island.
Two mid-20s fools thrust together by chemistry,
banned by the churches and synagogues.

I was in love with an ex-Israeli soldier
who was tied to the traditions of Jerusalem
and seduced by the allure
of her home country.

And so I live as a man
Who has never seen a battlefield
Nor felt the pain of war
Until I started searching The New York Times
for the name and face
of my Middle Eastern Rose.
———————————————–
That’s all for now Peace (for real).
Chris Biscuiti

CB is an Editor for Pulse Wrestling and an original member of the Inside Pulse writing team covering the spectrum of pop culture including pro wrestling, sports, movies, music, radio and television.