for Gaza
words crossed out never to be spoken
never to be read never to be thought
prohibited the flame of our fleeting voices
when the winds of censorship extinguish us
lives crossed out in the sentences of history
no more to be lived no more to be loved
dead the silent victims the judgments of conquerors
the unspoken languages forever lost to time
when plagues when wars when patterns
of catastrophe overwhelm us, and what's left
is just an imprint an outline a shadow
to write to speak to think to exist is to resist
we spell our revolutions in the ink of memory
the blood of bodies the poetry of ideas
construct our futures from the possibilities of now
the persistence of dreams will cultivate our freedom
diplomats feast on the living hours
while Goliath's executioners roll their dice over graves
where homes are battlefields the playgrounds of children
the solidarity of friends will enable our victory