DORIAN GRAY IN PALESTINE
remember dorian gray
so forever young
and handsome
and every high falutin woman’s dream
and never appearing to age
beyond a day
remember
– sorry for the spoiler –
finding out
that every tortuous deed
every inhumanity
every crime
he commits
appears
wrinkle upon wrinkle
obscene salivating jowl
to cruel scowl
on a portrait he keeps locked
away from the public eye
leaving
his skin and looks unscathed
but before the end of the story
the painted horror
– his hidden narrative –
will be exposed
and
dorian’s mental depravity
will become
an irreversible leprosy
for all to see
today’s spoiled babes
of imperial cravings
and endless wars
build real estate
on stolen Rivieras,
they cast themselves as playboys in casinos
built on Palestinian rubble
and sniped children
swept away
in the locked rooms
of their denial
today’s stars
and AI CEOs
have hidden the remains and bones
of their genocide
under hotel suites
they do not know
are already
doomed
by the People
to the same fate
as Dorian Gray’s room
(c) Julia Wright. August 4, 2025 All Rights Reserved.
CAROLINA SALDANA’S LOVE SUPREME FOR MUMIA
to our late comrade sister, Caro
may you Rest in Power
we cannot allow
our revolutionary hearts
to fail
and fall
as fragile porcelain teacups
shattering
on marble floor
we cannot allow ourselves
the luxury
of heartbreak
our revolutionary hearts
must learn how to love
outside
the cleft
of a neat red emoji
clicked
generically
when we experience loss
and the casualties
of a liberation war,
the heart
learns how to haircrack
slowly
quietly
gently
wordlessly
as we carry forth the legacy
of those like you,
Caro,
whose Love Supreme for Mumia
mattered
most
(c) Julia Wright. August 7, 2025. All Rights Reserved to Friends of Mumia / Mexico
WHAT IS BLACK AUGUST TO US?
it’s Black August …
we open the caged windows
of our minds
and let the dragons fly
on high
it’s Black August …
we mark our calendars
with the blood-red ink
of the slaying of ancestors
now whispering
at our side
it’s Black August …
the understanding there can be
no Love
without Rage
rises
like a sun
it’s Black August …
we seize Black agency
because
yesterday
the time
was already
now
(c) Julia Wright. August 13, 2025. All Rights Reserved.
JOURNALISTS OF OURSELVES
to Anas Al-Sharif
your young body
was still on fire
as you were dying
and
your colleagues
rushed
to carry you
as your breath
slowed down
amid the sparks
you had let us know
your days were numbered
and facing the camera smiling
you simply said
I am not afraid
Your journalism
was feared
because
you would go on the air
as hungry as the People of Gaza
you were describing
tracing every detail of their pain
and
your tears
when an unknown woman
collapsed of starvation
at your side
flowed
through the wires
your journalism
was action
your journalism
was feared
so you were demonized
by the Zionists and their US allies
as belonging to Hamas
but if a man wants to put down a dog
does he not accuse it
of rabies?
and
who –
which society
is on the deathbed
of the most incurable rabies
of all?
Anas Al-Sharif –
you taught us
journalists
that the highest form of resistance
is to be
journalists of ourselves
(c) Julia Wright. August 15, 2025. All Rights Reserved to the memorialization of the 5 Al Jazeera journalists assassinated by the IOF.
SLIPPING ON SHIFTS
beware of the forked tongue
of shifts
beware of the velvet diplomacy
of duplicity
General Langley
in Kenya
admits Ibrahim Traore
he accused of stealing
his country’s own gold
has arguably done
great things?
Beware …
the BBC
all of a sudden decides
the son of Thomas Sankara
is a new African leader?
Beware …
more and more governments
are recognizing
a two-state solution
in Palestine?
Read the fine print …
Bibi
announced he would let foreign press
into Gaza
as long as he could maintain their safety
a few hours
before Anas Al-Sarif
and his Al Jazeera colleagues
were assassinated by the IOF –
we should have connected
the deceptive dots
an imperialist leopard
does not change its spots
(c) Julia Wright. August 17, 2025. All Rights Reserved.
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