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Hila Ratzabi was born in Rehovot, Israel, and is the author of the chapbook The Apparatus of Visible Things. She holds two BAs, as well as an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. A finalist in Narrative’s Fifth Annual Poetry Contest, she was also selected by Adrienne Rich as a recipient of a National Writers Union Poetry Prize. Ratzabi lives in Rehovot.

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Prayer Before Turning
on the News

by Hila Ratzabi
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I sit before the TV screen
with remote control in hand.
I want it to stay this way.
This dark, quiet room
without a world in it.

People on couch
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  • Thank you for writing this beautiful poem/prayer...you got it exactly right....

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Narrative is a nonprofit
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