so i had a very long day today, quite difficult. at the end of the day i tried to make a laundry list of all the things i felt and saw, difficult in itself, since there was just too much. but i will just put the laundry list here, and if there are questions about specifics, i can get to them later...
today i saw
a tiny flat stone with a hole in the middle. a smiling woman holding fresh bread, offering. a man kiss both my cheeks. a man die slowly and painfully of heart problems in an ambulance at a checkpoint. the beach. the wall. guns. fresh figs. busy busses and shopping. men in flip-flops. dusty car windows. flags. peace signs. pistachios. pain. laughter. humiliation. faith. schools with boarded windows. writing on the wall. a man shed tears when he told me the story of how three weeks ago his mother died while being held for hours at a checkpoint on the way to jenin. a woman with a sore throat. a woman with a needle in her hand. 5 year old children counting to ten in english for me, smiling and laughing. a red-faced schoolmaster. coffee, tea, hummus, olives, cheese, oil. the place where the only olive press was in the town, the major source of agricultural income, flattened by soldiers. nasty men and women laugh at me for three hours. private security now, mercenaries, doing the hateful dirty work. telling me to go away. go 12 hours on 8 busses, 6 taxis to take a trip that should take 45 minutes. twice. a doctor from jenin who was paid 5000 shekels ($1000) because the soldiers said they had indeed made a mstake when they killed his two of his three youngest children. US AID. organic plums and big guns. harry potter. cigarrettes. rubble. grapes on the vines. concrete, plastic trash. metal detectors. a huge golden sun over olive trees. mini skirts. faces covered. concertina wire.
so there was probably more, but i cant remember. today i saw a cage. i realized that when i was walking down the street in ramallah (one of the many stops i made today) that all the fancy shoes and purses are still in a cage.
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my dear, poetry is the best words in their best order. sometimes the chaotic is the best form our words can take. your not-poem gives a glimpse through your eyes and the contrasts are even more stark when we compare the visions to our own here. you are doing good for the world. one step, needle and word at a time. i love you and miss you.
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