Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXV: "jagged crescent and sky"
written in response to the video clip Dreams of Palestinian Children, in which children, playfully jostling one another, crowd around the camera and call out their dreams.
Dust settles as the night folds the playground into shadow.
each classroom window
its jagged crescent
jagged Gazan sky
FYI: For more poems about Israel's Gaza Genocide, see Special Feature: Selected Poems for October 7th Reflections
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXVI: "one-minute silence and fireballs"
in Tel Aviv
traffic blocked on the highway
for one-minute silence ...
forty miles away, fireballs
burst open in morning air
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXVI: "waiting for water, or nothing"
this day like others
before the transient light
on the horizon ...
lines of Gazan children
waiting for water, or nothing
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXVIII: "bombed-out houses
and mounds of rubble"
a one-armed boy
stares out the tent window
at something ...
yet still bombed-out houses
and mounds of rubble
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXIX: "glint of a Tavor"
stirred by Israel's Elimination Project
West Bank teen limping ahead of his shadow glint of a Tavor
FYI: Because the teen is facing the sun, his shadow is cast behind him, meaning he is physically moving forward, leaving his shadow in his wake. This adds a tragic layer of symbolism: he is trying to outrun the darkness trailing right at his heels.
Simultaneously, facing the sun means the light strikes everything in front of him head-on, effectivelyly explaining "the glint of a Tavor." The weapon is positioned directly ahead of him, catching the harsh, low-angle light and reflecting it right into his eyes.
The final visual arc of this Jewish terrorism in the West Bank haiku is as follows:
1. The subject: A injured youth (West Bank teen limping)
2. The movement & light: Walking west into the late sun, leaving darkness behind (limping ahead of his shadow)
3. The threat: The sudden flash of steel waiting in front of him (glint of a Tavor)
It is a complete, haunting narrative achieved in just twelve words.
And
Democracy Now, September 16, 2026: “The Elimination Project”: Israel’s Systematic Dismantling of Palestinian Life in West Bank: B’Tselem" (Israeli human rights group)
A major new report by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem titled “The Elimination Project” accuses Israel of “dramatically intensifying its attacks on every aspect of Palestinian life in the West Bank.”
B’Tselem Executive Director ,Yuli Novak: Israel is dismantling the basic conditions needed for collective Palestinian existence in the West Bank. Our new report “The Elimination Project” shows how this mechanism works and how over the past three years, it has become more lethal, violent and explicit. Come with us to the West Bank to see for yourself. The Elimination Project in the West Bank operates through five domains of action that work together and reinforce each other: killing, violence, intimidation, movement restrictions, economic strangulation, social and political destruction, ethnic cleansing and territorial takeover. These are all parts of a system with one aim: to ensure Jewish supremacy and eliminate the Palestinian collective.
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXX: "witnessing"
roaring attack drones
drown out midnight screams --
surrounded by fire
a Gazan girl in red
witnessing her mother ...
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXXI: "Gazan camp"
Gazan camp
a paper crane blown over
bodies on bodies
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXXII: "fireball-lit sky"
fireball-lit sky
yesterday's bodies mingled
with today's
