free palestine
a poem
i remember clips from previous genocides,
humanities’ greatest tragedies,
dead bodies were shoveled into shallow graves
their skin covered in dirt-
barely clothed
feet bare
limbs limp.
i hoped my eyes would see better days
than a lifeless body,
without a coffin
or in a polished urn
and hopefully
basked in fresh flowers
to be carefully blessed
and spread back into the earth
from the hands of their loved ones,
but one could only hope.
what i’m trying to say is:
when we talk about death,
it’s paired with a sense of human dignity-
but in real time,
on the other side of the world,
people with lives and souls,
flesh and bones,
eyes and smiles
bombed and burned,
left to decay.
all of this
was on the local news network today
at 7:30am this morning.
i saw children’s lifeless bodies
on my instagram news feed.
i will never un-hear children crying
at the sight of bombing
close enough to burn their face,
as i watch and listen
from the blue screen of my iphone-
i could never be
close enough to feel their-
pain.
but at this point,
pain is an understatement.
maybe their loved ones,
“the lucky ones,”
will remember -
where their shallow graves lay,
if anyone survives,
will maybe lay fresh flowers
but this genocide
wiped entire families
grade schools filled of children
and their parents
and their grandparents
and their teachers
and their families
all cease to exist.
murdered, battered and humiliated,
no reason should be just enough
to equal a fair obliteration of a nation.
its interesting how media format evolves,
but politics doesn’t.
this isn’t just my liberal,
one-of-those-people statement,
this is my
people-are-dying-by-the-tens-of-thousands-
and-i’m-heartbroken-by-the-reality-
and-tired-of-silence
statement.
and of course,
there are layers and layers of thick nuances that
brought us to 75 days of continuous bombing -
i am not here to discuss the “if”, “and”s and “but”s
but i am certified “human being”
qualified in recognizing
the inhumanity of this current state.
i have nothing to offer but my words
from the deepest space in my gut and heavy heart.
and recognition during such a tragic,
heartbreaking point in human’s history.
