I am thinking of Palestine
I am thinking of Palestine
a death toll that has risen
beyond human comprehension
another journalist martyred
for speaking truth to power
parents clutching their children’s bodies
praying they live to see another day.
I am thinking of Palestine
moral boundaries crossed
in the pursuit of devastation
widespread starvation
water rations
blackouts in telecommunications
surgeries forcibly performed
without anesthetics
two ambulances tasked with the impossible
to alleviate the suffering of millions
at the hands of those militarily (ir)responsible.
I am thinking of Palestine
senseless violence and statistics
the deaths add up
but the justifications never do.
I am thinking of Palestine
the land they carry in their blood
ancestral homes nestled
between the river and the sea
now beneath buildings and bodies
that never got to see
the return of their homelands
their people and places freed.
I am thinking of the places
Palestinians seek refuge
in Lebanon / in Jordan / in Egypt
intergenerational refugee camps
tatreez passed down through the decades
a living testament to resistance
ancestral memories woven
through the fabric of displacement.
I am thinking of Palestinians
how it must ache to be (up)rooted
migrating from stolen lands to stolen lands
suspended in liminal forests
seeing the maple of my home
while yearning for the olive of their own.
I am thinking of my Palestinian friends
who from a world away
tirelessly carry this work on
showing me what it means
to be all in on collective liberation
anti-colonialism is a hard-won fight
but their courage crosses borders
and forced removal will not stop them
from igniting a movement.
I may not be Palestinian
but I do know what it is like
to have your homelands
renamed and reshaped
under colonial occupation —
so I am thinking of Palestine
but I am not just thinking of Palestine
I am reading accounts from the ground
sharing the next event
showing up in the streets
boycotting businesses
and reaching out to politicians
knowing it is the least I can do.
Were the roles reversed
it is what I would want
my Palestinian friends to do for me
our liberation, bound up with one another —
— none of us free
until all of us are free.
