Flowers of Perhaps
rachel bluwstein (the poetess), 1920s
“…on the shores of the Jordan/my hands have planted a tree/and my feet have made a pathway through your fields.”
Flowers of Perhaps is a compendium of some of the poetry of Rachel Bluwstein, known as The Poetess. An Israeli national hero, she is considered the founding mother of Hebrew poetry. Her work often expresses the experiences of the Second Aliyah immigrants like her, who encountered a land of both joy and hardship. She romanticizes the idealism of the pioneers who came to Palestine to build a new Jewish homeland, but doesn’t shy away from the enormous individual challenges, costs, and consequences of those efforts. Her poetry has left a lasting imprint on Hebrew and Israeli identity and inspired generations of women to write of their own perspectives.