News Poem | Witnessing

Image Title: Women Awaiting Sunlight - Ogundara Ayoka, 2023, Acrylic on canvas

The U.S. news cycle proves to be a continuing barrage of the absurd and alarming. Unclaimed drones share headlines with warnings of a looming purge of civil servants and replacement by reprobate sycophants. At the same time, relentless coverage of an alleged 26-year-old assassin hints at the undercurrent of an unspoken rage, even among those assailed as being “woke.” 

All of this unfolds as we count more than 430 days of a seemingly unceasing and slowly expanding war. This “conflict” is now finally declared a genocide by international bodies, with warrants issued for its actors on charges of crimes against humanity, including the weaponization of sexual violence and starvation. Each night, we lay our heads on spectacle and crisis and attempt to close our eyes against the disorienting fractures of global reality.

Witnessing

When I see the word Palestine

When I hear the place Gaza 

I want to sleep 

I cannot rest but I want to sleep 

It is fitful I thrash 

My breathing is shallow and hoarse

My feet are cold my head is hot 

My skin crawls tickled by the sweat of my worry

I close my eyes and tumble in darkness

I see black and red and brown and grey 

Falling like concrete shattered into sand and dust

I am awake and I cry to dream