M A K I N G L O V E I N T O N G U E S: a poetry selection

This is a chronologically ordered selection, on various themes, all selected from Sheinfeld’s Early poetry books, and translated by different translators. Writer and Gay activist Ilan Sheinfeld was born in Tel Aviv (1960). He is one of the first Gay Israeli artists to spend an entire career out of the closet. For his activities in the field of Gay culture, in 2005 Sheinfeld was recognized by the community with its Outstanding Citizen’s award. Sheinfeld has published twelve collections of poetry, five novels, three plays, two books for young poets and five children's books. Three of his plays have been staged and he was awarded the Prime Minister's Prize for Literature twice, in 1990 and in 2015. He received his M.A degree in Hebrew Literature from Tel Aviv University, where he founded and edited the literary magazine Shufra (1984-6). He served as co-editor of the literary section of the leftwing Al Hamishmar newspaper (1981-1990) and as the spokesman for the Cameri Theater of Tel Aviv (1990-1992). Since 1992 he has managed his own public relations company. He teaches writing workshops as part of the Open University's Eskolot Series. Sheinfeld is the single parent of twin boys born to a surrogate mother. (Lisa Katz, Poetry International). Ilan Sheinfeld lost his partner, the painter Saar Efroni, in 1986, after a severe paralytic attack. He was then married for ten years to the world-reknowned photographer Adi Ness. After they separated, he had another relationship, which ended when Sheinfeld decided to become a father. His twins, Michael and Daniel, were born in India, with the aid of a surrogate mother, in April 2012. Sheinfeld raises his sons as a single gay father, on Kibbutz Tuval in northern Israel. “Love” is a key word in Ilan Sheinfeld’s poetry. Love as a private experience and love as a concept with metaphysical significance, as the secret of the universe and its core, as the force that drives the wheels of life. Many of his poems revolve around one central experience: coming to terms with emptiness following the death of a beloved friend. These are poems of self-observation, in which the speaker is not present in them as a physical being, but whose memory continues to nourish imagination. The attitude towards the departed friend is complex and subject to changes of mood. At times, the relationship between the living and the dead is characterized as mystical; at other times the speaker wishes to be released from the memory of the dead. Either way, life goes on and is even rejuvenated, driven by the power of love that wants to be restored.