Poems, short prose, or snippets of dialogue about your lives far away from the traumas brought to us by the news and social media. The only side I am on is the side of peace and I have no idea how to find it.

New? Click the tag to see past hubski writing prompts.

Bombs

  I’d hate to be a resident of Gaza today
  Bombs flying overhead
  Nowhere to hide
  The word “shelter” means “target” and
  Truth, whatever that is, seems smothered in hate and fear
  Hate and fear are truth.
  The government that represents me endangers me, but my life is danger.

  I’d hate to be a resident of Be'er Sheva today
  Bombs flying overhead
  Some places to hide, not enough
  All hiding all the time and
  Truth, whatever that is, seems smothered in fear and hate
  Hate and fear defining truth.

  Gaza or Be'er Sheva
  The only truth they can point to
  Is the ever-changing truth of their own experience
  Which is fear experience
  The governments that represent them say they are protecting them
  I will protect you means I will put you in danger.

  I’m glad to be living not in the Middle East right now
  Like all of us not in the Middle East, not in Syria, not in Libya
  not in the Ukraine, not in Ebola-zones of West Africa –
  It was the luck or pluck of our ancestors who fled rockets
  Wars, poverty and brought us here to be randomly
  born in a place with less fear of rockets overhead

  Understand this,
  I know that somewhere in the solar system, an asteroid heads in my direction.
  My immediate problem is the woman in the bus seat ahead of me making call after call
  For insurance estimates on a new Honda.
  I know her birthdate,
  I know her jobs, her car history.

  I say, “Pardon me.  Will this be your last call?”
  She dials and dials.

  In Gaza, they die and die.
  In West Africa, they bleed and bleed.