TO KHALIIFAH AND REFAAT | CHILDPOCALYPSE | OCTOBER 7TH AND THE SALT OF TRUTH

TO KHALIIFAH AND REFAAT

Khalifah –
they put you
to death
the day after
the birth
of the poet
who also became
their martyr –
Refaat Alareer

one of your last poems
also wrote about
the children of Palestine
whose smiles
come deep
from the land
they carry within

the stones of words
thrown
by Poets
will not bleed

(c) Julia Wright September 26, 2024. All Rights Reserved to the family of Marcellus Williams for his funeral.

 

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CHILDPOCALYPSE

the Washington Post
deftly distracted us
yesterday
with a nostalgic article
on vanishing fireflies
reminding us
how iconic
and
magical
that twinkling insect was
and what a bugpocalypse
climate change
is causing
as the green flashing
Bethany Beach firefly
is to be added to
the Endangered Species Act list

and distracted we were
but only for a moment
for if the US government is poised
to declare the Bethany Beach firefly
as threatened
what about the Gaza Beach kite-flying child
and where is the Endangered Species Act
that will protect that freedom twinkling human?

is it a coincidence
that the Washpo
reminded us to focus
on the insect
of our childhood delight
to defend it
against invasive plants and light pollution
the very same day
Mondoweiss let us know
that as we near
the anniversary of the October 7th revolution
Palestine
is the most precarious place
in the world
to be a child
because of the genocidal climatefare
waged
by invasive IDF,
US-made phosphorous
and bunker buster bombs
designed to burrow
through acres and acres
of young skin?

(c) Julia Wright. October 2 2024. All Rights Reserved to Samidoun and to playgroundsforpalestine.org

 

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OCTOBER 7^TH AND THE SALT OF TRUTH

” The power of Truth is final “
John Africa

this is the anniversary
of a Revolution
torn from its
true context
and
I awaken thinking about
how the truth
is torn
shred by shred
day by day
from
our colonial experience
everywhere

we study for PhDs
in post-truth sciences
and
we are made to believe
the real time footage
of the year-long genocide
in Palestine
is a lie

meanwhile Israeli children
are exposed
from kindergarten
to the unspeakably graphic archives
of the victims of the Holocaust
so that the word “Nazi”
will trigger
a violent response
against a long prefabricated enemy –
Palestine

closer to home
we learn that Colin Powell
when he brandished
the proof
at the United Nations
that Saddam Hussein
possessed weapons of mass destruction –
the tube only contained salt

On this October seventh
and from now on
may the salt of Truth
be exposed
by those to whom the Earth belongs
and
may the true weapons of mass destruction
be traced
to the US and Israeli ammunition factories
that feed
the mass graves
of a spreading testing-ground

(c) Julia Wright. October 7th 2024. All Rights Reserved to playgroundsforpalestine.org and Samidoun