A U.S. senator calls
the tents set up
at universities
camps for Hamas;
and he says
he supports Israel
and if Hamas
surrenders
and hostages
are released
the war will end.
He adds
that he is
deeply
disappointed
that the President
has paused
some shipments
of heavy weapons
to Israel. Deeply
disappointed
Senator
Fetterman?
That is how
I feel as well
about you.
Your ignorance
resounds. This
is not binary.
Instead
of pledging
allegiance to Israel
come what may,
why don’t you
in turn bow
to the Palestinian
right of return
to homes from which
they have been
expelled since 1948?
Why don’t you cite
the ever smaller
wedge of Palestinian
land, about twenty
percent of what
was assigned
to them in 1948?
Can you manage
to turn your head
around that fact?
Twenty percent?.
One fifth of
a shrinking pie?
And you say,
hard disagree
deeply disappointed.
Mr. Fetterman
pitch your tent
in Gaza. Wait
for food
to be dropped
from the sky
Run and hide
when bombs
fall down
instead.
Indran Amirthanayagam is the translator of Origami: Selected Poems of Manuel Ulacia (Dialogos Books). Mad Hat Press has just published his love song to Haiti: Powèt Nan Pò A (Poet of the Port). Ten Thousand Steps Against the Tyrant (BroadstoneBooks) is a collection of Indran's poems. Recently published is Blue Window (Ventana Azul), translated by Jennifer Rathbun. (Dialogos Books). In 2020, Indran produced a “world" record by publishing three new poetry books written in three languages: The Migrant States (Hanging Loose Press, New York), Sur l'île nostalgique (L’Harmattan, Paris) and LÃrica a tiempo (Mesa Redonda, Lima). He edits The Beltway Poetry Quarterly and helps curate Ablucionistas. He hosts the Poetry Channel on YouTube and publishes poetry books with Sara Cahill Marron at Beltway Editions.
