Israel Har was born in 1932, in the city of Chelm in Poland.
His first book of poems, A Pauper’s Discourse on a Bush, was published in 1962. Har founded The Knapsack Library and served as its chief editor for many years. His The End of Darkness and Bread (1994) may well be one of the best books of poetry published in Hebrew in the nineties. Har also published more than 50 poems in 2002, in Garden of Ropes Amid the Fire. He deals gingerly with the pain of those who are forsaken, whose worlds collapse, their disappointment when families break apart. He intertwines the richness of the old and new Hebrew languages with memories of a splendid past, now lost, and present day experiences of the distress of aging and loneliness.
Poems
AN UNFINISHED HOUSE
BETWEEN OLD AND AGED
A PAUPER'S DISCOURSE ON A BUSH
A LANDSCAPE LIVING IN THE EMBER
Interesting Articles
The material book itself
The poet speaks about his poetry
On the poverty of plant life, and the delights of discourse: on Israel Har's "Pauper's Discourse on a Bush"
