by Phyllis Wax
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Israeli settlers beat a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank, stripped him naked, tied his arms and legs and then zip-tied his penis, he, his family members and another witness said on Wednesday. “I thought I was going to die,” the man, Suhaib Abualkebash (above), a 29-year-old shepherd, told The New York Times. “I thought this was the end.” Photo by Afif Amireh. |
Even as ghosts their bones
are visible: ribs, backbones,
sticks of arms and legs.
But the occupiers in the West Bank,
the army in Gaza,
do not see the ghosts
of their ancestors,
do not hear their rattling bones
or their ghostly admonishments
not to duplicate the cruelty done to them,
seem deaf to the idea that never again
means not to anyone.
Phyllis Wax writes in Milwaukee, where she observes the goings-on of the country and the world and is being cured of her delusions. She has read in coffee houses, bars, libraries and on the radio, and has participated in poet/fiber artist collaborations. Among the journals in which her work has appeared are Gyroscope Review, Writers Resist, Jerry Jazz Musician, Rise Up Review, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, Wordpeace, The New Verse News, Naugatuck River Review, Your Daily Poem, Feral.
