Gaza Duplex
Some eyes cannot see the genocide.
You don’t always need eyes to witness God.
When the rubble buries ninety-nine names of God.
Children wake up from their dreams of milk.
To suckle blood from the hollow breasts of no milk.
Why listen to the people and what they ask for.
If that’s not the answer you were waiting for.
Live updates of hellfire come from Gaza.
We cry seeing the determination of Gaza.
Alhamdulillah, is something to thank God for.
Alhamdulillah, is something to ask God for.
We take faith lessons from the best of people.
People always end up teaching other people.
Some eyes cannot see the genocide.
Arboretum
The first shock came when
You said you were from Israel.
To duly square you, I’d asked:
‘How many years did you enlist for?’
You too were shocked by detail
With which we follow matters
Palestinian here in Kashmir’s mute,
Resplendent gardens. Only last night
Khader Adnan after a history of
230 days hunger strike had this time
Pushed the infernal walls— into 86th
Famished day; now killed in prison.
You took seeds of Kashmir hollyhock
And dianthus with you to Israel.
The prisoners too smuggle out their
Sperm in hopes of being reborn
Outside the jail. As if giving chance
To God, for once to be kinder.
—for Oren and Irene
Danyal Hassan is a poet from Kashmir. He is currently a PhD scholar in Kashmir University.