#gaza – Craig Spence

Let’s lay our bodies down
upon these blood-soaked sands,
bake our white skins brown
on these confiscated lands.

Let’s raise a cheery toast
to the dead and dispossessed
cause we all know what matters most
is what we think is best.

Let’s taste the fruits of victory
under our blazing sun,
invent heroic histories
excusing what we've done.

Let’s raise our sullied spirits
with an anthem to pure power
and let the whole world hear it
for this truly is our hour.

Let’s make ethical this cleansing
with the stroke of a silver pen
and pretend a happy ending
has been achieved… again.

Craig Spence

This video includes images of genocides

It’s the dawn
Of a new day
In an old era
In the same old way.

It’s the cycle renewed
Again and again without end
A ceaseless iteration
Of nation against nation
Of despair strangling hope
Shoots of hatred
Tendrils of fear
A choking underbrush
Infesting our gardens of Eden

Who was it said
We must kill, and kill, and kill
Until all are dead
Who would become invasive species?
Whose god roared that battle cry
Under the glaring sun
Denying even the possibility
of innocence
Declaring even the unborn
‘Enemies of our state’
Infected with murderous intent?
Vermin only fit to hate?

Bloodlines.
Worm like veins
Through our sacred soils
Rooting the detritus
That defines us.
Ancient scrolls
And chiseled texts
Implacable as tombstones.

Craig Spence,
August 18, 2024