by Leslie Gray
Today I met an Israeli
I couldn’t tell by his accent or his dress
I didn’t hear him speak a word of Hebrew
I knew this man was an Israeli because I had met him before
In a cafe
In Tel Aviv
We were both regulars
I a regular customer
he a regular waiter
Today I met an Israeli
in a cafe
in Berlin
that I had never visited before
Today I met an Israeli
that asked me “what the fuck?”
when he saw me learning Arabic
An Israeli that had surely served in the IDF
An Israeli that I thought I would never see again
Today I met an Israeli
that I hadn’t seen in 5 months
An Israeli outside of Israel
In the heart of an Arab Turkish migrant neighborhood
in Berlin
Today I met an Israeli
From a cafe
From a previous life