Words, those tangled things that bind us,

surround our lives like morning fog.

Even now, when the sides of buildings 

are dangling

their bombed out walls ripped apart 

dripping wires 

like some strange alphabet,

you harvest stories daily.

Listening.  Recording.

Starving children, stuck in fear

who else can hear their scattered silence?

And who can mark the endless graves

so calmly, pressed in front of a camera. 

The dead never fight against anything

that we know of.

But your words do.    

We hear you.

*In memory of Anas as-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed Noufai martyred August 10, 2025 in Gaza

~over 250 journalists have been killed in Gaza and the West Bank since Oct 7, 2024 (more than all the recognized US wars together-including the Civil War)

Meredith Bruskin lives in Swanville