A MOCK VILLAGE OF LOVE

cop city
has built the replica
of a wartime town
to multiply
nationwide

we who abolish together
are blessed
to be building
day by day
the mock village
of the new society
we want to free
our caged leaders in

we who abolish together
are birds of one feather
flocking against the same danger
of capitalist greed

we who abolish together
are painting with joy
a common canvas
of new colors
of warrior values
of pioneering ways to Love
of radical ways to mourn
of ancestral tales to pass on

we who abolish together
have the compassionate power
to define
who the real heroes are

we who abolish together
have the free building permit
to draw
in our midst
the Blackprints
and Indigenousprints
of a new world

THEY WOULD RATHER DIE RICH

why are they playing it so histrionically big
spreading their vampires’ wings so far …
because they know how small
they are

why are they sucking our blood …
because they are bleeding out

why are they grabbing
more and more
of our indigenous Land worldwide …
because the fact
Mother Earth
is not to be measured
in numbers of acres
of real estate
they refuse to understand

why are they so enamored
of what they call the Gaza Riviera …
because of the oil and gas reserves
that give it
such a five star aura

why are they targeting
our children’s bodies and minds …
because they fear
the spiritual food
offered
by the ancestral placenta

why are they outlawing History …
because it is
the long timeline of our winning revolts
against their colonial crimes

why are they allowing climate change …
because they know it will cause them to die
but they would rather die rich
than survive
defeated in the eyes of a new world –
an army of fallen emperors
without clothes
running scared
and
with nowhere to hide

we will not go down with them…

RETURN TO GAZA CITY

to Bisan and her capacity for joy

unwittingly
the caterpillars
left behind
the long straight traces
of where new crops
will now be seeded

those fallen slanted roofs
used by the children
as wartime slides
will be ground
into a new cement
mixed with laughter
for playgrounds
and schools

one by one
the killing fields
will go back
to ancestral farming

the first crop
of radishes
garlic
onions
and peppers
will be
watered with the joy
of tears

the peace-giving vigils
for those lost
and now found
under the rubble
will
intersect
with the sober feasts
for those able
to eat their fill
at last

Gaza City breathes

HELL IS EMPTY

l’enfer c’est les autres
Hell is other people

Jean Paul Sartre

have you noticed
the war criminals
in the US and Israel
as well as their allies
in the West
love touting
a word :
“Hell”

all hell will break loose
if our vassals
don’t do what they’re told

hell is good enough
for human animals

Hell
is even a collective reward
for those
whose ancestors
and ancestors of ancestors
died for the Land

we deliberately bombed
and besieged Gaza
to create a man-made and AI hell –
and now the monsters
are turning down
our heavenly offer
of a blitzy Riviera
to be built on their bones
without them?

palestinian children
can go to hell,
rants a
UK zionist

the ICC
has become
the epicenter
of hell

the sentence to Hell has no limit
for Indigenous peoples
marked
for an ultimate exit

but as the bard said
Hell is empty
we know
where the demons are

Fighting Words

Journal of the Communist Workers league

A MOCK VILLAGE OF LOVE | THEY WOULD RATHER DIE RICH | RETURN TO GAZA CITY | HELL IS EMPTY

Poems by renowned Black leader and activist Julia Wright