CATASTROPHE: words of peace in times of war

It is excruciatingly late

And I need to sleep

But I also need to write

 

I need to process

Dissecting this confluence of emotion

Living in a moment of historic proportions

Flirting with the precipice of barbarism

An apocalyptic age of mass destruction

 

I am torn between worlds

Deluged by diametrically opposed positions

Out of alignment with much of my recovery family

Yet unable to remain passive

Compelled to seek words of peace

 

This is Israel’s 9-11

Perhaps worse in guttaral ferocity

And I worry that we have learned nothing

 

9-11 was horrifying

Rationalizing two wars of conquest

Hundreds of thousands of casualties

Billions in military spending

Justified by our collective pain

 

Revenge is an age old social instinct

Rendered exponentially dangerous and vicious

Revenge amplified by our contemporary military arsenals

 

I hold fast to principle

Believing all life to be sacred

Refusing to see either side as disposable

Honoring both the Palestinian and Israeli dead

 

Our movement for liberation is at an impasse

Denouncing Zionism is not a strategy

Being right is less important than being in relationship

 

To reach our goal

To achieve a secular state

Demands new alliances

 

Divorcing Antisemitism from Anti-Zionism

Envisioning a collective solution

A fusion of polyvalent collective aspirations

 

I pray for my friends who stand with Israel

I pray that their hearts open

Hearing the wails of Palestinian suffering

Seeing our common humanity

 

This is a moment of catastrophe

Demanding a new humanism

Demanding the dismantling of empire

 

I pray by my fire

I pray that the horror is minimized

I pray for a spiritual and political awakening

 

This is a catastrophe in a cradle of civilization

I pray that it is not a cradle of our destruction

–BYPO PHOENIX c)2023