11.11.2008

The Man Whose Home is a Bench

By Eva Eliav
100 words

I know a man whose home is a city bench. I don’t know by what roundabout road of life he ended at that place, but he is established there, his scanty belongings heaped neatly beside him.

What brings a man to settle on a bench? I try to solve the mystery of a life, exposed, yet completely hidden. If I were to give him a questionnaire, "bench" would be the answer to every question: address, family, occupation, hobbies.

Perhaps he fell out of a myth, and created another one. Within it, he is held, contained and nourished. Within the bench.



Eva Eliav grew up in Toronto , Canada and has been living in Israel since 1970. Her poems and short fiction have been published in a number of literary magazines, including Room of One’s Own, Natural Bridge , Parchment, Quality Women’s Fiction, Voices Israel , and ARC Israel . Her other interests include painting, films, and finding the perfect frappuccino. Eva Eliav is married and has a daughter.

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