What does it mean to be a poet
in war time? It means that you
apologize. You apologize
excessively to the burned-out
trees to the birds without nests
to the flattened houses to the
long cracks in the road's
midsection to the children, pallid
in death and before it and to the
face of every grieving or
murdered mother
What does it mean to be safe in
a time of war? It means you are
ashamed of your smile of your
warmth of your clean clothes of
your yawning of your cup of
coffee of your undisturbed sleep
of your beloveds alive of your
satiety of accessible water of
clean water of your ability to
bathe and of the coincidence that
you are still alive!
Oh God I do not wish to be this poet in a time of war!
~This poem appeared in The Gaza's Poet Society, 2023.
