Rereading all the translated volumes of the poetry of the Israeli Yehuda Amichai . . . I've become more than ever convinced that he is one of the biggest, most essential, durable poetic voices of this past century—one of the most intimately alive and human, wise, humorous, true, loving, inwardly free and resourceful, at home in every place and in every human situation. One of the real treasures.
Yehuda Amichai's poetry is about love, family and war and peace, it is centered in his own being and his people's history. He writes in a language that is both modern and ancient, both secular and religious. The Bible, history and his own life are part of the form and substance of his poetry as surely as new and old Jerusalem and the City of David are made of the same stone. Joy is a recurring theme. Through his art Amichai abundantly provides for human need as few living authors can. We trust him with our spirit.