1.
for god(dess)
(tresses galactic)
so loved the world
(herself, the universe,
even the underbelly
of the lowest snailfish)
that (s)he gave his (her)
only (we are all made in the image)
begotten son (a palestinian child)
(forever a palestinian child)
that whosoever believeth
in him (what do you believe now)
shall not perish
(there is no peace but death)
but have everlasting life
(you fools)
{remix of john 3:16}
2.
when you say us
which humans do you forget
when you say humans
which ones do you see as animals
or less than human
than even creature
which ones should live in the cage
and which in the tent
while you sunbathe inside your fences
which should live on a leash
of cellulose paper bruised by ink
which are not allowed a night in the car
which are not allowed a heartbroken
sleep in the street
which should dig a hole in the ground
for the waste
while you share a suspended hole above
and shit on the world
which need their own door
which need their own table
their own starving institutions
which should be more grateful
which should be docile
turn yet another cheek
which should be held responsible for
their most violent members
which are always innocent
and which are inevitably to blame
which should be protected
and which should just disappear
when you say our
as in future
who is to your left and to your right
and are there any
you already plan to fight
when you say us
meaning, when you say who is good
how good he is, we are
who do mean and by what measure
and if it includes the men
who killed hind and sidra
and ahmad, and the half boy
the girl skull, and all those poets and
those who risked telling the story and
all those bloodlines and those
caring for the mouths and bodies
of the tattered alive
then how good could you be
or any place you call we
and how could i belong to you
your we, your us
how could we shake hands
all that blood and fortune fecal
i’m going to disappoint you now
but it may age well
i’m going to ask and keep asking
how us can include me
include the broken hearted
the grieving
the rooted and uprooted
the homeless, the families
halved by hatred
the children
in every single place and moment
include those you forget
those you ignore
those you move around
or make criminal
cell to cell, jail to jail
include those who know what we’ve done
and let us breathe
let us repair our shattered selves
gathering back all we’ve sold away
can our we be about the effort
to bloom into the widest span
to pollinate the world with belonging
to protect each other from tantrum
and devastation
to live not just simultaneously
but together and with
at the very least
understand that we hear the absence
and the guilt weights it against
our hypervigilant eardrums
turns it into a solo against the chorus
bright and high you soar
carrying a tune we all know
erasure, erasure, erasure
the nothing, and worse than nothing
which always follows the lie
you get what you dream of
—you only dream of death
we turn away, we divest
we choose to save what’s left
we as in us
we mean all us
world wide are we
in us we trust
we choose life sir
we choose the ones who “teach life sir”
{quoted words from this incredible piece from rafeef ziadah}