Author: poetryfest

In between the Gaza tents
pitched by refugees many times over
the children and grandchildren of refugees
trying to survive their hunger and thirst
have a thrift store
that carries my belongings

take my things
and love them

my favorite blue shirt
a pair of dusty shoes
my son’s crumpled poetry book
a plastic doll with no arm
they were dug up from the rubble of my home
As we lay crushed under the marble slab
from our kitchen counter
I was cooking a meal for my children
when the Israeli drone entered our home through the window
Its glass blown out long ago
by the bombing.
It hovered over us, its tentacles loud and menacing
buzzing incessantly
before it dropped its bomb
and flew away.

Snow White,
Circling the sky
In search of messengers
To show them the way to newfound
Freedom

I have bacteria growing in my head.
That’s what I call it now—
Bacteria.
Too alive to be imagined,
Too cunning to be mine.

They scanned my skull
After the incident—
Bright white lights,
Machines that hummed like lies.
“Everything looks normal.”
And that—that—
Is what frightens me most of all.

There’s something in there,
Squirming just behind my eyes,
Beneath the bone pulsing
In the quiet, watching.

Are we all just meat puppets,
Flesh vessels
Piloted by parasites
Coded in wet grey?

If my head moves my limbs,
But the thing inside
Is not me—
Then what am I?
Where do I begin?
Where do I live?

Am I the passenger
In this nest of nerves?
Or the parasite itself,
Squatting in a borrowed form?

I stare at my reflection—
Too long.
It looks human.
Almost.
There’s a delay.
A twitch.
A mimic’s stutter.

I tested it.
Skin, thigh—clean.
Arm—nothing.
Shoulder—blank.
But the stomach—
It moved.

It slid.
Slick and warm.
Like seaweed
That thinks.
It dove deeper,
Hiding.
Playing.

It knew I was coming.

Now it curls inside me,
A knot of nerves,
A wet fist of thought,
Threading itself
Through marrow and lung,
Lacing its hunger
Through my spine,
My teeth.

I scream—
But the voice is not mine.
I move—
But something else decides.

I claw
At floors,
At walls,
At the air—
Every plank,
Every surface
It might nest behind.

I will find it.
Tear it from its bone-cage.
Rip the truth from sinew.
Gut this thing
Even if it’s all that’s left.
Even if it’s me.

I will peel myself back
Layer by layer—
Until I see what’s real.
Until there’s nothing left to hide in.
Until I know—

Am I the parasite
Or just the shell it hollowed out?

farewell dragon fly
hovering above a pond
their wings casting wakes

The left says its men’s fault
The right says its women’s fault.

Incomplete.

It is our fault.

And more specifically,
Yours.

You.
Reading this.

It’s your fault.

Here’s the truth:

Every man
Has the possibility of being a violent,
Abusive,
Raping,
Serial killer
Who will peel off your skin and wear it for a coat.

Every woman
Has the possibility of being a conniving,
Abusive,
Betraying,
Gold digger
Who will take you for all your worth and leave you in the dirt.

This is not a problem of men or women.
This a human problem.

What do both of you want,
Actually?

Do you even know it?
I’ll tell you,
Because most of you are too cowardly to say.

You want certainty.
You want a promise.
You want a guarantee.

Here’s the truth boys and girls,
The only people who offer guarantees
Are selling something.

Because in the real world,
There are no guarantees.

Everything you have,
Everything you will have,
Everything you could have-

All of it-
Can,
And will,
Be taken away.

You are going to die,
And lose everything.

But if you spend your entire life
Demanding that life give you things
That it will not,

When your last breath is drawn,
It will be with regret.

Imagine casting in The Truman Show. Unbeknownst to you, your Truman…“Who all actually knows?” Misspoken lies and glamorized illusions…Are characterized by distorted confusions. Unfolding truths, opened realms… Of seeing others on repeat. Such defeat overwhelmes. Temperament in roles … unknowingly holds.

Strenuous hours on unanchored actors…Produced spectators with a grin and hands that read “traitor”. Participating in unordained events… That doesn’t protect all in its covenant… Represents a weakened system, only ruling for consumption. Vamping energy…Like it’s nothing.

Flaunting to amplify propaganda…Through entangled projections. Anything it takes, to increase views rating.

Grand exposures are met with lane closures… Unintended malfunctions got trafficked in manipulative conjunctions.

Interconnecting… Sought interconnection. Which interconnected, the moment of clarity. Third eye insight. Vanity!!! The type that doesn’t just flow …Grows.

A dissector is not supposed to overreact once it is registered. Divine time is supposed to teach. Lessons from failed actions, when acting.

Unaware of deceptions deceit. Unturnable effects… Leaving a stain of regret. That smell must reeks!

When the scripted tasks…siphoned energy, that heightened senses …Which could determine, whose foe? Enemy…?

Look through, that is hoping to pamper from someone else’s consolidation… Focus on you. By any means necessary, dead the notion of moving ineffectively. Checker in… chess moves, that brings positive in revelation. An Indescribable interpretation… Disguised as the attempt to reclaim classification.

Signify a thrill…When the blindness prevented the reveal. Stagnation of forwardness, discredit the attempt of an emotional death. Deluding realness, will not disenfranchise trueness.

I wanted to thank you.
I wanted to thank you for all the fun we had
The walks we took, the restaurants we went to, the drives,
Fighting with you, playing with you,
Me running after you and you running after me.
Watching television with you.
Just sitting with you.
I wanted to thank you for all the delicious food you gave me,
My food, your food—anything that caught my eye–knowing that just a little bit wouldn’t hurt.
(I did love roast beef and barbecued chicken!)
I wanted to thank you for caring about me
Taking me to have my hair done and waiting for me
Taking me to the doctor and waiting for me
Taking me to the hospital and waiting for me.
Taking care of me until the very end.
Yes, I always knew you’d be there.
I’m sorry I couldn’t say all this to you before—but words don’t come easily to me.
I’m patiently waiting for you now, as I always did, knowing we’ll meet again.
Yes, I really, really was a lucky dog.
Sincerely, Momele, the Shih Tzu
(2010-2025)

the raven’s song ceased,
a tarrying silence.
a tickle of wind teased,
willows waving in remembrance.

freed in stale air
a rose petal drifted,
the dance to forbear
an atmosphere shifted.

a radiant wreath
the rays shone aglow
upon newly unsheathed
chiselled headstone.

‘une vie honorable
est une vie éternelle’,
etched in the marble,
fervent tears in farewell.

hyper paradise —
another season unearthed
today in headphones.

one leaf that is gone
now is the intramural ring
of the rising sun

harvesting the heart —
identity cannot split
the unfound flux.

a palm tree trunk
arched over classic stucco —
views within a park

unknown shadow —
its insect twitched in air
and through grass it went

sounds of steps behind —
bordering the path I sat
to ease my day