To accompany the pilgrimages for a Gaza ceasefire
A renku to accompany the pilgrimages for a Gaza ceasefire.
Collaborators: Michele Rule, kjmunro, John S Green, Jerome Berglund, and Isabella Mori. Photo by akın akdağ
B O M B S
light up the Gaza night
glimpse of corpses
toward Bethlehem
a swarm of flesh flies
to join
the protesters
or not to join
what was togetherness
ascatter now
trying to find
a common ground
dandelions
the pamphlets read
remember the need
leaves of trees
gone west and north
archives lost
the sharp
tines of grief
on crumbled concrete steps
heart-shaped
wreath
the architecture of war
left to swallow dust
frenzied
whirling cawing
over the West Bank
gunshot wound
the phoenix dies
starvation moon
yet row upon row of groceries
in my neighbourhood store
a bulldozer dumps another load
into the mass burial site
sweat, tears
diversifying
portfolio
lemons and figs
count the fruits on one hand
winter, spring
the olive tree
untended
the displaced wait
at the border
cries of babies
in a Gazan hospital
the journalist’s eyes
stripping bark
path of totality
marching order
secretly
a politician weeps
remembering joy
The Roches sing Hallelujah
holy Saturday
the hope in the pause
between death and life
the Al Jazeera news
like a vigil these days
information
disinformation
misinformation
hellfire
the grapevine withered
shrivelled faces
facing the cameras
dull eyes
all that broken
glass traipsed in
children wait
for a scoop of lentil soup
sounds of drones
the rest of the world stands
on the sidelines
a poet remembers
the broken hands
of a poet in Chile
fragments of bowls
the imam wipes away tears
universe contracts
until there’s nothing
but wind
change
is blowing
smooth stones
on Gaza’s shoreline
the intertidal zone
morning waves
an outflow of sorrow and hope
