Inauguration


People, my people. It's been about a month-&-a-half since I put anything down here. Truth be told, I haven't been able to get anything out.

it's hard to write about Palsestine

b/c you must go
sofarsofast then slingshot
poems like cold stones

i say what i can
but palestine needs
bread & land more than my poems


The (literally) absolute destruction of Gaza burns in my own heart. It makes me ill. To some, it's the same old story, not worth their concern. Indeed, these crimes against humanity have gone on long enough. Such awesome military power also forces me to impotence.

At any rate, what's there to say that hasn't already been said?

If you click on the Eat The State! link and scroll down, you can find an archive of some of the articles that I wrote in '01 & '02. To be completely honest, and with humility, I think that they're among the best articles by foreigners about "The Conflict." Since I am a person first, I told the stories from people's perspective. Check them out, if you will.

And with that:

Moving Towards Home
--June Jordan

'Where is Abu Fadi,' she wailed.
'Who will bring me my loved one?'
(The New York Times, 9/20/82)

I do not wish to speak about the bulldozer and the red dirt
not quite covering all of the arms and legs
Nor do I wish to speak about the nightlong screams that reached
the observation posts where soldiers lounged about
Nor do I wish to speak about the woman who shoved her baby
into the stranger's hands before she was led away
Nor do I wish to speak about the father whose sons were shot
through the head while they slit his own throat before the eyes
of his wife
Nor do I wish to speak about the army that lit continuous flares
into the darkness so that the others could see
the backs of their victims lined against the wall
Nor do I wish to speak about the piles up bodies and
the stench
that will not float
Nor do I wish to speak about the nurse again and
again raped
before they murdered her on the hospital floor
Nor do I wish to speak about the rattling bullets that
did not
halt on that keening trajectory
Nor do I wish to speak about the pounding on the doors and
the breaking of windows and the hauling of families into the world of the dead
I do not wish to speak about the bulldozer and the
red dirt
not quite covering all of the arms and legs
because I do not wish to speak about unspeakable events
that must follow from those who dare
"to purify" a people
those who dare
"to exterminate" a people
those who dare
to describe human beings as "beasts with two legs"
those who dare
"to mop up"
"to tighten the noose"
"to step up military pressure"
"to ring around" civilian streets with tanks
those who dare
to close the universities
to abolish the press
to kill the elected representatives
of the people who refuse to be purified
those are the ones from whom we must redeem
the words of our beginning

because I need to speak about home
I need to speak about living room
where the land is not bullied and beaten to
a tombstone
I need to speak about living room
where the talk will take place in my language
I need to speak about living room
where my children will grow without horror
I need to speak about living room where the men
of my family between the ages of six and sixty-five
are not
marched into a roundup that leads to the grave
I need to talk about living room
where I can sit without grief without wailing aloud
for my loved ones
where I must not ask where is Abu Fadi
because he will be there beside me
I need to talk about living room
because I need to talk about home

I was born a Black woman
and now
I am become a Palestinian
against the relentless laughter of evil
there is less and less living room
and where are my loved ones?

It is time to make our way home.




Comments

Anonymous said…
for some really amazing and moving writing from Gaza, I'd like to recommend http://talestotell.wordpress.com
Designer Diva said…
Palestine needs it's fellow Arab "friends" to quit using them as pawns. Only once they truly unite as a people and stand on there own two feet will they be a free people no longer in bondage. Nothing will save them until they save themselves. I've seen firsthand the changes they've gone through in finally gaining their own land. To bad Iran and Syria wouldn't let them prosper!