Somewhere in Gaza,
Abood films videos from his tent
to ask for money when he is not
thirsty for water.
Salah cares for his son,
distracting him from the loss
of his white dog (who looks like mine)
from the loss of his home and homeland.
Rayan draws pictures
of bombs and struck bodies
while sitting on rubble, somehow
a smile still lights his young eyes
as he stares shyly into the camera.
These are three souls
I have been blessed to connect with,
share kind words of encouragement & emojis,
sending maybe enough
for a meal, saying maybe enough
to warm a heart for a few brief moments.
I carry their texts
in my pockets like rosaries.
I pray to any God or Goddess
who will listen now ~
Hananim, Jah, Pele, Jesus, Allah ~
who is listening?
What can we do
in the face of so much
terror, months of massacre?
I sing a song.
I say my prayers.
I remember their faces
& beautiful Palestinian names.
I cry in the car.
I try my best
to keep my heart
open & tender
for yet another day.
𐫱
Listen
Ishle Yi Park is the author of Angel & Hannah (One World Random House), and The Temperature of this Water (Kaya Press). She is the first woman Poet Laureate of Queens, New York, and mother to two daughters and a wolf pup. She lives on the Big Island of Hawai’i.
About the Poem
“I wrote Rosaries in honor of the Palestinian families who have reached out and connected with me personally during this horrific genocide. I see their faces in my dreams and on my social media scrolls, and I say their names to remember them, in my waking thoughts and in my prayers, to humanize and empathize with these very sweet and sincere souls who are brave enough to reach out to complete strangers to ask for help and support in the worst of situations. When I can, I send money; when I cannot, I send heartfelt words of aloha, and keep track of them online to see if they have survived another day. What a strange, surreal world we live in…just trying my best to remain human, humane, caring, and kind, and to remember how we are all connected through love.”