Haifa is burning:
it is an obvious metaphor:
for Godso loved the colonized,
He sent us to hell with
our oppressors; for God
so loved us smoldering
He birthed us unto an ember
topography, holy & leaking
light; hardly a metaphor at all –

***

we were      first settler;    intruder
who dared dance    on holy    land
as if it could ever be        ours -
then, we were       terrorist;     of
jealous      stone & flaming    tar;
& now they paint        us arsonist
in our own     home & we      exile
& we combustion, we flying    rage
& isn’t        that headline-      worthy?
we trending     & worth    attention
only in     anger; where       were your tears
& hashtags      when the fire     spread
to the West Bank?   when Gaza caught    fire
Again?   & in August?   & in 2014?   & in 2008?

                              ?left to right from - reverse in read to hardest history isn’t
                                                      ?repetition in digest to hardest history isn’t
                                               ?human when digest to hardest cremation isn’t

***

when a country commits suicide
do we mourn first the land or the bodies
ensnared by its brief promise of home? yes,
even cities get tired of waking -

sido said Haifa was a ceaseless
sunset - light painting Mediterranean anything
but crimson, pouring through palm trees like sand
through naive fingers, unknowing of land’s

embrace; the first time I talked about depression
with my parents, they said but you’re so happy
here –  could not marvel the sight of their radiant
home ablaze –  i fear a horizon free
of crimson, I wanted to say, my depression
is a country who sets itself ablaze.

***

My people carry another sunrise on their backs;
Bear the ashes of two diasporas on their backs;

Scapegoat of hellfire, stone shrapnel,
& false Gods on their backs;

Of riot shield blockade; of night doused
in teargas & steel jaws, on their backs;

Moonlight, thick with arabic & white
Phosphorous, shines full on their backs;

A thousand flags, white & heavy,
To eviscerate flesh off their backs;

To rebuild & smolder on; to build dusk
from dawn with a whole country on their backs;

To reteach living history & unlearn the unforgiving
Of mouths & white lies on their backs;

Haifa burns & cries wolf, cries Palestine,
Cries repentance on their backs;

Gaza burns & burns again & the silence
Weighs heavy on their backs;

The fire consumes –  cyclical inheritance –
The fire weighs heavy on their backs –