"A Poem for Gaza" by Remi Kanazi

Share/Save/Bookmark

"A Poem for Gaza" by Remi Kanazi
by Azadeh Azad
13-Jan-2009
 

 

 

 

 

 

A Poem for Gaza

By Remi Kanazi *

Dec 29th, 2008

I never knew death until I saw the bombing of a refugee camp
Craters filled with disfigured ankles and splattered torsos
But no sign of a face, the only impression a fading scream
I never understood pain
Until a seven-year-old girl clutched my hand
Stared up at me with soft brown eyes, waiting for answers
But I didn't have any
I had muted breath and dry pens in my back pocket
That couldn't fill pages of understanding or resolution

In her other hand she held the key to her grandmother's house
But I couldn't unlock the cell that caged her older brothers
They said, we slingshot dreams so the other side will feel our father's presence
A craftsman
Built homes in areas where no one was building
And when he fell, he was silent
A .50 caliber bullet tore through his neck shredding his

vocal cords
Too close to the wall
His hammer must have been a weapon
He must have been a weapon
Encroaching on settlement hills and demography

So his daughter studies mathematics
Seven explosions times eight bodies
Equals four Congressional resolutions
Seven Apache helicopters times eight Palestinian villages
Equals silence and a second Nakba
Our birthrate minus their birthrate
Equals one sea and 400 villages re-erected
One state plus two peoples…and she can't stop crying
Never knew revolution or the proper equation
Tears at the paper with her fingertips
Searching for answers
But only has teachers
Looks up to the sky and see stars of David demolishing squalor with hellfire missiles

She thinks back words and memories of his last hug before he turned and fell
Now she pumps dirty water from wells, while settlements divide and conquer
And her father's killer sits beachfront with European vernacular
She thinks back words, while they think backwards
Of obscene notions and indigenous confusion

This our land!, she said
She's seven years old
This our land!, she said
And she doesn't need a history book or a schoolroom teacher
She has these walls, this sky, her refugee camp
She doesn't know the proper equation
But she sees my dry pens
No longer waiting for my answers
Just holding her grandmother's key…searching for ink

---

*) Remi Kanazi is a Palestinian-American writer, poet, and editor living in New York City. He is editor of the recently released collection of poetry, spoken word, hip hop and art, Poets For Palestine.

Share/Save/Bookmark

more from Azadeh Azad
 
Mehdi Mazloom

A Poem for Israel

by Mehdi Mazloom on

By Mehdi Mazllom

Jan 14, 2009

I never knew death until I saw the the carnage committed by Palestinian homicide bombers in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Craters filled with disfigured ankles and splattered torsos, and other body parts of innocent Israeli man, woman and children

But no sign of a face, the only impression, a fading scream
I never understood pain Until my seven-year-old girl hiding in the shelter clutched my hand, Stared up at me with soft brown eyes, waiting for answers "Why do they hate us more then they love their own children"?. But I didn't have any I had muted breath and dry pens in my back pocket That couldn't fill pages of understanding or resolution.

So his daughter studies mathematics Seven thousand explosions from rockets fired from Gaza, times eight bodies Equals fourty resolutions from Hamas leaders to continue with hate and destruction, no matter what. Seven Grad missiles times eight 6 Israeli cities, towns and villages, Equals continued with hate and miseri for the poor and innocent Palestinians and Israelis alike.

Our birthrate is 1/4 times of their birthrate. Equals one sea and their 400 villages re-erected.  One state plus two peoples…and she can't stop crying. Becasue feeling sorry for themselves is a national pass time for Pals. Never knew freedom of expression, equale right for woman, and let go of hate, are the equations

Tears at the paper with her fingertips Searching for answers
But only has teachers Looks up to the sky and see the rocktes and Grad Missles demolishing squalor. 


IRANdokht

Azadeh jan

by IRANdokht on

Thank you for the poem, it is heartbreaking to know and feel so helpless....  History will not forget and humanity will not forgive these criminals.

IRANdokht


ebi amirhosseini

Azadeh jaan

by ebi amirhosseini on

Sepaas for sharing.

Ebi aka Haaji