ALGERIA // FRANCESC PLANES
in GUEST POST
GUEST POST
ALGERIA // FRANCESC PLANES
GUEST POST: DEMOLITION ORDER // ANNE CHAMPION
in ART, GUEST POST, IN ENGLISH, TEXT
I can’t tell you the agony of years
in only a few minutes, but I can show
you: my house is not only stones.
Last night, they arrested my 9 year old boy.
Numbers. My 14 year old son
is in prison on the hunger strike.
We are not numbers.
You only need to look at the half moons
under our eyes, the curved ridges
under our scalloped feet, worn
into moons of stone from bare-footing
this land: what we say is true.
I have split
my hands for 40 years for peace.
You will forget the numbers.
Last night, they arrested my 9 year old boy.
I know what they’re doing to him now
and it’s unspeakable, like the name of God.
In the city of peace, God’s name
will be peace, and I have split
my hands for 40 years
and I bleed peace.
They arrested
my daughter in law, and she returned
with four missing teeth. Forget
the numbers. She had one injured
eye. Forget the numbers.
My children will bleed
peace, even when they’re gnawed
by the lion’s jaws.
Israel lives in the shadow of the lion,
and that lion is you. You sleep.
We live in waking nightmares.
My daughter in law couldn’t
eat for five months. Forget
the numbers. See this key?
10 generations. We are not.
You don’t know what you do to us
in your sleep. We suffocate
in occupation and we can’t rouse
the lion: the deep slumber of a lion
persists—until it doesn’t.
How many nights have you slept
through darkness?
All this happens under the nose
of the world. Tell me, do you smell
ash here? Do you smell iron?
Do you know the smell of hope?
It’s a putrid stench that will turn
your stomach, but it will purge
us, and these stones will still stand,
God willing, and my children
will stand like stones.
*Israel routinely puts demolition orders on Palestinian homes which causes homelessness, loss of livestock, and loss of livelihood. To date, Israel has demolished over 25,000 homes and 25,000 more homes are currently under demolition orders. Justification for these demolitions include suspected terrorist activity, the construction of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, and the construction of the Separation Wall. This activity is recognized as illegal under international law.
***
text // anne champion
art // fatima aj