OCTOBER 7

by Tammy Smith

Three years
since the massacre—
short but long
enough to remember
the horrors of captivity,
being stripped of safety
at home and abroad,
in our houses of worship,
on stinky subway platforms,
afraid to wear a yarmulke,
hang a mezuzah,
slipping a Jewish star
on a gold chain
beneath a business suit.

Hope is harder to find
standing among crowds
of hostile strangers
blocking the closing doors.

Tammy Smith is a licensed clinical social worker from New Jersey. Her work has appeared in Thimble, ONE ART, Bending Genres, The New Verse News, and elsewhere. She received honorable mentions in the Journal of New Jersey Poets 2026 Poets Prize and the 2026 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards.

QUESTIONS WE ASK OURSELVES

by Rachel R. Baum

A Moorpark College professor was charged Thursday with involuntary manslaughter and battery in the death of a Jewish protester who authorities said died after a confrontation with pro-Palestinian demonstrators at a rally in Thousand Oaks, CA.

 

Questions we asked ourselves 
   in 1930s Germany and in 2020s America:

Should we remove the mezuzahs from our doors? 
oh but you can see the shadow, the shape
the ghost mezuzah, clear as any sign. any target
 
Should we take off our Star of David necklaces? 
Christians’ crosses gleam from their throats
our naked tender throats invite, incite violence
 
Should we avoid attending demonstrations?
where angry people meet to blame 
Zionists or Jews, no difference to them
 
Should we hide our opinions, our politics?
even safe rooms we know are not safe
no matter, speak out or stay quiet, we die anyway.

 
Rachel R. Baum, a Best of the Net nominated poet, has tried unsuccessfully to avoid writing poems about current events. She lives in upstate New York with her dog Tennyson.