Opinion Editorials, April 2010

Rocketing Gaza

 a Poem

By Sam Hamod

Al-Jazeerah, ccun.org, April 5, 2010


splitting the moon
with phosphorous, they come,
night after night, whistling
into our dreams, crashing
into our bedrooms, smashing in
the roof of Auntie Zakia's house, before
she could even get out
to cry for help--
we carried her, three of us, i
can't remember how far it was
before we found the doctor, his hands
bloody and his eyes bloodshot, and
cussing, "Ya Shaitan, Ya IbnAlKalb,
Ya Israel, shaitan,..." while he
tried to stench the flow
of blood from her head and right arm,
i don't remember how long
we were there, or what he said after that,
i just remember i was dizzy, and i kept
hearing the whistle after whistle, after
whistle of the Israeli rockets, after a while
i didn't know which were worse, ,the
one's that hit our village
or the one's i keep hearing in my head

Sam Hamod's poetry has been published all over the world in anthologies and in his 12 books of poems; at present he teaches graduate courses for National University and has taught at the Writers Workshop of The University of Iowa, Princeton, Michigan, Wisconsin, Howard and Rider. He may be reached for lectures and readings through this website, www.todaysalternativnews.com