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.