In the name of...

I’ll keep this short because honestly, I don’t know what to say. I’m heartsick and kind of paralyzed by the war in the Middle East. And it IS a war, not an action, occupation, resistance, self-defence, or whatever else they want to call it to “clean it up” or justify it. And the fact that RELIGION is the excuse at the root of this ongoing war (and so many others) makes me sick, and it moves me even further away from whatever respect I used to have for organized religion. Throw in the Indian boarding schools, Magdalene laundries, sexual predation by clergy, obscene wealth hoarding, and more, and my blood boils when I hear religious figures talk about righteousness or sin.

So I’m turning to poetry again, as a way to sort it out for myself, to slog through it, to respond somehow. This is a poem by Joseph Fasano that we should all post in our homes, on social media, everywhere…and we should read it EVERY. DAMN. DAY.

Words Whispered to a Child Under Siege

Joseph Fasano

No, we are not going to die.

The sounds you hear

knocking the windows and chipping the paint

from the ceiling, that is a game

the world is playing.

Our task is to crouch in the dark as long as we can

and count the beats of our own hearts.

Good. Like that. Lay your hand

on my heart and I’ll lay mine on yours.

Which one of us wins

is the one who loves the game the most

while it lasts.

Yes, it’s going to last.

You can use your ear instead of your hand.

Here, on my heart.

Why is is beating faster? For you. That’s all.

I always wanted you to be born

and so did the world.

No, those aren’t a stranger’s bootsteps in the house.

Yes. I’m here. We’re safe.

Remember chess? Remember

hide-and-seek?

The song your mother sang? Let’s sing that one.

She’s still with us, yes. But you have to sing

without making a sound. She’d like that.

Sing. Sing louder.

Those aren’t bootsteps.

Let me show you how I cried when you were born.

Those aren’t bootsteps.

Those aren’t sirens.

Those aren’t flames.

Close your eyes. Like chess. Like hide-and-seek.

When the game is done you get another life.