HOW SHALL BEAUTY CLAIM A PLACE

Here’s a Gaza poem from our friend Kos Kostmayer. It is sent “with love and desperate hope for better news and happier times.”
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HOW SHALL BEAUTY CLAIM A PLACE

When sorrow bears witness
To unspeakable violence

Time withers
Weather stops
Laughter too
The wind departs

The sun retreats

Wells run dry
The sky disgorges black regret
Rivers reek of blood and bile
Children vanish in the dark
Olive trees begin to die
People wading through the bloody streets

In search of missing names

Weep to no avail

They weep because they know
There is no justice in this world
If mercy has no say
If mourning has no brief

To salvage tenderness
From mindless force
Or shelter happiness

From grief so deep
It wears the human heart away

Photo: Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike on the El-Remal aera in Gaza City on October 9, 2023. CC BY-SA 3.0 license held by Palestinian News & Information Agency (WAFA) in contract with APAimages. The image has not been modified.

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09.22.19

40th ANNUAL