Shoah and Naqba

Stringy phrases circle

Within the living thoughts

Of an organism

Definitely human,

Despite a mutation,

Just as definitely

Not belonging and not

A member by any

Definition of Jew

Or Palestinian—

Not genetic and not

Political and not

Sectarian and not

In terms of any shared

Experience unique

In those populations.

That organism’s thoughts,

Therefore, don’t qualify

To enter the debates

About moral justice

Concerning these peoples,

Are irrelevant, and

Should not be privileged.

Still, there’s the human thing,

Despite the mutation,

And the organism

Is troubled by the dark

Rhyme, Nagba and Shoah.

It’s just that they’re so close,

Calendrically,

And seem to overlap

Horror and loss of lives

And of community,

Forcible removals,

Seizure of resources—

However specific

To those peoples involved,

They also feel human,

Feel like they are human,

Like the worst truth they share

Isn’t in or in between

The named populations,

But shared with the species,

Horror on horror, with

Or without mutation.