Ode to an encampment

Here, in a long-stolen homeland,

in a country insecure, paranoid, and

                      empty,

supplier of smart bombs, dumb

bombs, sound-bites so inane they clearly embody

the essence  of those at the top:

                    empty.

Here, at the heart of complicity,

at a university whose dollar-seeking rules 

demand obedience and indifference to Others’

                    destruction,

you students, 

you staff, 

you faculty,

Palestinian, Jewish, and other,

have the gall, 

the chutzpah, 

to say 

NO!,

to dare to

                    care.

I sit with you, see your willingness

to defy arrests, teargas, and violent cops,

see you cram for exams in the off times,

hear you talk strategy, wisdom, and virtue

in a country of amoral

                 rot-at-the-top.

I watch a video where one of you

chastises the Board of Governors,

calmly,

logically,

wisely

telling these empty yes-men to

                fuck off,

perfect

evidence

that despite Biden’s, DeSantis’s, and Greenblatt’s

                lies,

our encampments are full of wisdom,

full of love,

full of morality,

as they expose the amoral cruelty

of those who batter students here

while Gaza

              dies.

Featured image credit: Global Panorama; modified by Tempest.