Welcome to the fourth (and final) installment of my poetry series! If you haven't already read them, I suggest checking out the first two selections as well as this one. Thanks to everyone kind enough to leave me comments - they have all been thoughtful and very helpful.
While reading about the so-called Israel/Palestine conflict, I became increasingly aware of the fact my stance was neither pro-Israel nor pro-Palestine (and not even pro-America) but rather pro Justice.
In experiencing it from this view point, I wrote a series of poetyr on the subject. The series title is "Four Views of Palestine as Seen from America."
The series won First Place in the Kent State Stark Diversity Award (poetry division).
I will post one poem from the series each day. This is the fourth (and final) poem, called What Pushes You.
Hope you enjoy!
What Pushes You
They say it is not the fall that kills you -
it's hitting the ground that does.
Then maybe every black man on trial in america should claim
I didn't kill that guy - the bullet did
in just the same way
that every white soldier is able to say
I did not kill that innocent Iraqi family - my smart bomb did.
So maybe it's true that Rachel Corrie wasn't killed
by an Israeli or a bulldozer.
Maybe it really was the falling rubble that was guilty
(just like the court said).
That guilt can be spread like influenza
or be quarantined off and isolated
is not something I want to have to think about.
But I do
because it is not the fall that gets you -
it's what pushes you over the edge that does.