A poet’s response to Israel-Palestine conflict
It is excruciatingly lateAnd I need to sleepBut I also need to write I need to processDissecting this confluence of emotionLiving in a moment of historic proportionsFlirting with the precipice of barbarismAn apocalyptic age of mass destruction I am torn between worldsDeluged by diametrically opposed positionsOut of alignment with much of my recovery familyYet unable to remain passiveCompelled to seek words of peace This is Israel’s 9-11Perhaps worse in guttaral ferocityAnd I worry that we have learned nothing 9-11 was horrifyingRationalizing two wars of conquestHundreds of thousands of casualtiesBillions in military spendingJustified by our collective pain Revenge is an age old social instinctRendered exponentially dangerous and viciousRevenge amplified by our contemporary military arsenals I hold fast to principleBelieving all life to be sacredRefusing to see either side as disposableHonoring both the Palestinian and Israeli dead Our movement for liberation is at an impasseDenouncing Zionism is not a strategyBeing right is less important than being in relationship To reach our goalTo achieve a secular stateDemands new alliances Divorcing Antisemitism from Anti-ZionismEnvisioning a collective solutionA fusion of polyvalent collective aspirations I pray for my friends who stand with IsraelI pray that their hearts openHearing the wails of Palestinian sufferingSeeing our common humanity This is a moment of catastropheDemanding a new humanismDemanding the dismantling of empire I pray by my fireI pray that the horror is minimizedI pray for a spiritual and political awakening This is a catastrophe in a cradle of civilizationI pray that it is not a cradle of our destruction BYPO PHOENIX is a D.C.
native and organizer and artist. Visit byporevolution.com to learn more. The post A poet’s response to Israel-Palestine conflict appeared first on Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News.
