She came to him followed
by her mother & her three daughters. He waited
sipping strong black coffee
& reading the interview with Dayan’s wife &
how the country’s moral
fabric was being shredded, how power soils men.
It had been winter, they’d
made a pact, to plant in the spring, invite neighbors,
the way it had been then,
as their grandfather’s dreams had been written down, how
the land would bear fruit for those
who dig the wells, bend to furrow & set the seed.
In his dream, his kids play hard
ball in Gaza when Rachides’ play in Tel Aviv.
In his dream, the Likud
who strut like crowned-kings in Jerusalem, ignore
their spite, open the cells, call
off the dogs – demolish these blood corrupting walls.
Roger Aplon was a founder & editor of Chicago’s CHOICE Magazine with John Logan and Aaron Siskind. He has published one collection of short stories (Intimacies) & nine collections of poetry, most recently, The Man With His Back To The Room (2007) & It’s Only TV (2013). He occasionally reads his work with musicians from Wormhole & Trummerflora Collective in Yokohama, Japan & the US: San Diego & New York City. He was recently awarded an arts fellowship from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico.