Activism

To our friend in letters Dareen Tatour

To do or not to do

I mutter a line of verse or two

And I am in prison.

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I am in prison for writing poetry.

 

I am in prison

For muttering poetry

For daring to think

For trying to pull a Shakespeare

I am in prison

Words wordswords words

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And I am in prison

For words.

 

What would Hamlet say?

Chains to the sweet?

Cruel to be cruel?

To die to die?

No chance to dream?

 

****

 

I am at the stake

I am being burnt

For being here

For writing poetry

I am in prison.

 

***

 

To those in prison

For daring to think

For daring to write

For daring

For being

For breathing

Sweets to the sweet.

 

 

 

I am free.

There is nothing bad about poetry

But Israel makes it so.

So, resist, my people, resist them.

Resist, my people, resist them.

 

 

***

Everything is rotten in Israel.

It is rotten to the core.

Its letters:

The I is not an eye;

They do not see here.

The S snakes into my prison.

Ra

Eel.

Yuck!

Look who is in prison now!

 

israel.

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“The ‘I’ is not an eye;

They do not see here.

The ‘S’ snakes into my prison.

Ra

Eel.

Yuck!”

ah to be a fly on the inner walls of refaat’s mind.