FROM DISTANCE TO DINSTANCE – three haiku for Gaza
when i was a child
distance screamed so loud to me
i called it dinstance
the Gazan children
are at such a near dinstance
i can hear them scream
may Gazan dinstance
echo in the beating heart
of each inner child
(c) Julia Wright December 28, 2025. All Rights Reserved to Susan Abulhawa’s playgroundsforpalestine.org, to the steering committee of the GSF and to what remains of the family of the poet and educator Refaat Alareer assassinated by the IOF
Silence between comrades
“…A time comes
when silence is betrayal …’
Martin Luther King, the Riverside Church speech, April 4, 1967
“Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation, understand that fascism is already here, that people are dying who could be saved, that generations more will live poor butchered half-lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution.”
Fallen Black Panther Party Field Marshal, Comrade George L. Jackson (1941 – 1971)
To our beloved comrade sister Carolina “Caro” Saldana who, even in death, breaks silence
silence
between comrades
is a silk hammock
strung up for
the mass killers’ siesta
silence
between comrades
is a rehearsal
for the night of betrayal
Martin and George warned
us about
before being felled down
silence
between comrades
sometimes rhymes
with cointelpro’s heirs
and assigns
silence
between comrades
is echo chambered
by those who sink
their claws
into our flaws
silence between
comrades
contradicts
the clamor
of ancient drums
and our slain ancestors’ songs
(c) Julia Wright December 28, 2025. All Rights Reserved.
Deliberate Illiteracy in the White House
the genocide may not for the moment haunt those who commit it, but its horror is all the more on our minds.
I have rewritten today’s poem to reflect that haunting.
Julia Wright
yesterday
it was the same ole presser
in the White House
we Jacks
built
yesterday
Bibi and the president he has bought
did address
a muzzled press
to explain
the status quo
of what they repeatedly called
that unfortunate state of things –
the war in Gaza,
that war they would be happy
to replace with real estate
not once did they
utter
the word
genocide
manifesting
their twisted malice aforethought
like many words
of Truth today
the signifier of genocide
was not allowed
to bloody
their pristine walls
so here’s the thing –
the meaning of their genocide
will come back
to haunt them
g…
for ghost
e …
for the elephant of the People
on a stampede
in their rooms
n..
for the unredeemed horror of the Nakba
o …
for the olive trees
groves and groves of them
cruelly cleansed
but still resisting
c….
for each child
killed by the IOF
in Gaza
the most dangerous place in the world
to be born
i …
for intent and identification
with the serial killers’ mind
d…
for deliberate, implausible
denial
and
another e
for e-mass murder
by AI
Genocide
Genocide
Genocide
may the punishment be
for these sons of Sisyphus
to repeat the name of their crime
as they roll the rock
of their sentence
up the mountain
of a free Palestine
again and again
until the end of Time
(c) Julia Wright, December 30, 2025. All Rights Reserved.
Between Next Year and me
these last hours
of a dark cold year
of losing you Caro
and you Assata
and you Cleo Silvers
and you Imam Jalil Al Amin,
i do not join
the dizzy crowds
scanning the night
for a few minutes
of fireworks
that will soon fizzle into smoke –
i seek
an inner bunker
the only solace worth its while
where memories can blaze
without burning out
and words of legacy
for those left behind
can gently come to mind
and
in this halfway house
between next year and me
i learn to accept
i will no longer
be able to say to those
who are now free of pain:
see you
see you in the whirlwind
(c ) Julia Wright. January 1, 2036. All Rights
From resolutions to Resolution – a New Year poem for Sovereign Venezuela
to all those resisting the US government’s invasion in Venezuela
the mega rich
the drunken elites
shout their New Year
resolutions
from invaded rooftops –
hollow resolutions
bomb guaranteed
in a delusional future
paved with ill-gotten gold
and filled with stolen oil
we
in the long haul trenches
speak quietly
about our capital R-ed
Resolution
to fulfill
liberation
from resolutions
to Resolution –
two different languages
another season
the bullies
crave
short term gratification
pulling on
the fire crackers
of their trillionaire fortunes
we, the threadbare,
hold
the single patient needle
of
our ancestral Warrior Love –
a perennial
once sown
always grown
(c) Julia Wright. January 3, 2026. All Rights Reserved.
