Gaza

I hear the surf in Palestine sifting through the sand
amidst the scream of missiles and the flinch of metals.
Kites once snapped in wind unspooled by children’s hands.

Fresh produce is now rare in Gaza’s markets. Meat, chicken,
potatoes, yogurt, eggs and fruits are completely gone.  Lament
the loss while dialing Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand

complicit in the genocide by shipping contraband
bunker busters to Israel instead of water, food, fuel, medical
supplies and kitchens to the fringed by the sea Palestinians.

 Crops and livestock have been decimated, there’s a stout demand
for veterinary supplies, what animals will low by the manger,
what star will rise in the East, how long will the Menorah’s candles

last or when will the Ramadan fast be broken in the already broken
evening?  Who will play the flutes or read stories to the children,
who will dance in the squares?  Have they unearthed the railroad

 in the Gaza strip, repaved its airport, rebuilt her port?  Fool pier
that boondoggled off the coast shuttled by befuddled Army Corp
of engineers, smashed by uncharted seas in untested currents.

 Clog every road to Gaza with trucks stuffed to the gills with food, President
Trump’s number is 202 455 1111 Tuesday –Thursday ten minute
waiting time and you get a live person unlike Schumer or Gillibrand.

 ~ Bob Elmendorf