Who Put the Ax in Al Aqsa?
May He who makes peace in His high places, make peace upon us and upon all Israel; and say: Amen.
The Mourner’s Kaddish
It was proclaimed a heroic operation
to … Read more
Pesach Rotem
Infrequent Diaper Changes
what it is to be urban
can feel fire-like
blazing as you see yourself streak down the street
showing off your swagger
women brandish vodka in coke bottles sipped through … Read more
A Trace of Light
A trace of light falls upon
the land of Ukraine where
a forgotten child is left alone
with his own private sorrows,
where God has turned His
burning eyes knowing … Read more
Kneel and Pray
I’m back to hiding under my third-grade desk
back down here with the gum
while the shirtless bully grabs for our crayons
again and demands we thank him for it… Read more
An Open Letter to Governor DeSantis
For Dr. Marvin Dunn
Sir, I read you don’t want woke citizens and signed
a bill that prohibits workplace training or instruction
that teaches people are “privileged or oppressed
based … Read more
Armed and Dangerous
She was careful not to look too long
keeping her eyes away, a hidden smile
enough to know they had created a plan
showing only her professional style
Once she … Read more
The Hymns We Used to Sing
We were civilized as we walked.
The food we’d … Read more
Night Light
Constructed cream
embedded with cutlery
missing plates,
indigo Lincoln
rumbling toward me,
landline phone
with a large black
switch, a beret
& teeth to pitch
me awake
into a curtained … Read more
The Polish Border
Your baby
looks like our baby bundled into her pink snowsuit.
Yours is zipped into a snowsuit with flowers.
You hold her up to the Red Cross worker.
The international … Read more
The Hunger Of War
They’re piling up
or splayed out
on streets
body after body
civilians
unarmed
or ill-advisedly
armed
in haste
and heroism
their meat is needed
to feed the hunger.… Read more
This little slab of horror
This terrible reason to pray
I keep stuffing my prayers
back through the glass
but the war won’t go away.
About the Poem
On a Saturday in April 2022, I … Read more
Another raid at the mosque
police have entered morning prayers
another raid at the mosque
Palestinians stockpiled stones
set barriers
19 people injured three to the hospital beaten
by rubber-coated bullets
nine arrested smashed windows… Read more
As Tanks Press Toward Kyiv
(and you gather with family in a restaurant in Philly)
You want to know why
it persists, this curse of the human,
pyromania at the heart’s core,
the dream and … Read more
An OK State Motto
A woman wipes her eyes –
allergic to the taste of metallic
blood pooling on the tongue from biting
so hard to prevent comments that
leave her feeling less … Read more
On Escaping Mariupol
No, they say, it’s not true—
we haven’t been heroes.
The soldiers who stood
our ground have been
shot, their backs to the sea.
Our mission was this: to … Read more