From the series 'On and Around the Volcanic Plateau': photo by bobsan88, 25 January 2018
No Reason To Celebrate But Celebrating Anyway
You
sailed into your next quarter century with a smile
sailed into your next quarter century with a smile
from the top steps miming I can't hear over the (merciless) traffic roar
just as I completed my furious embarrassed stumble between impatient cars
whipping round the rushing blind death
curve
on the ave
crossing over in my allotted time plus an impermissible (anxious) eternity
honk!
you
were pointing to your enchanted feral starveling menagerie
arrayed on the cracked masonry beneath and before
you
much as if you were a queen and they your court
and their board
the several bowls of the two kinds of the dry (mixed) set
out
on the various levels
your charmed realm primaevalthe several bowls of the two kinds of the dry (mixed) set
out
on the various levels
the crumbling chateau
upon yon fractured hill
at the foot of the ancient tree behind
and above
you
then explained once I had at last achieved nether shore
Sweetie and Silky and Spotty Boy all had some of The Wet
Avondale, Auckland: photo by bobsan88, 19 January 2018
A boy named Palestine, a girl named Capital, a boy named Jerusalem
Palestinian triplets named in anti-Trump Jerusalem protest #AFP Photo @saidkhatib: image via AFP photo @AFPphoto, 3 February 2018
Palestinians have reacted to Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital with street protests, but one couple has come up with an idea of their own, in the naming of their triplets.
Nidal and Islam al-Saiqli from Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip decided to name the three children Jerusalem, Capital and Palestine.
Palestinians also see the disputed city as their capital, and Trump's Dec. 6 recognition broke with decades of international policy that the issue should be resolved through negotiations.
The three babies -- boys Jerusalem and Palestine, and girl Capital -- were born in December, two weeks after the Trump decision.
"Thank God, I had triplets so we were able to name them in response to Trump's decision," said mother Islam, 25.
"There is no value to the Trump decision. Jerusalem is our eternal capital," her husband Nidal, 30, said.
To illustrate the names, the couple arranges the three tiny sleeping children on a bed with their birth certificates on their stomachs.
On Dec. 6, the US president recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, prompting widespread condemnation across the region and angry demonstrations in the Palestinian territories.
Israel seized Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it, in moves never recognized by the international community.
The city remains at the heart of the Middle East conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem might eventually serve as the capital of a Palestinian state.
The three babies -- boys Jerusalem and Palestine, and girl Capital -- were born in December: photo by Said Khatib/AFP photo @AFPphoto, 3 February 2018
#Palestinian #children play with a ball outside a #UN #food distribution warehouse at the #Rafah #refugee #camp in the southern #Gaza strip on February 4, 2018. / #AFP PHOTO / SAID KHATIB: image via said khatib @saidkhatib, 4 February 2018
#GAZA STRIP - living in the #Rafah #refugee #camp. #UNRWA #afpphoto #AFP: image via said khatib @saidkhatib, 4 February 2018
#GAZA STRIP - living in the #Rafah #refugee #camp. #UNRWA #afpphoto #AFP: image via said khatib @saidkhatib, 4 February 2018
#GAZA STRIP - living in the #Rafah #refugee #camp. #UNRWA #afpphoto #AFP: image via said Khatib @saidkhatib, 4 February 2018
#GAZA STRIP - living in the #Rafah #refugee #camp. #UNRWA #afpphoto #AFP: image via said khatib @saidkhatib, 4 February 2018
#GAZA STRIP - A #Palestinian #woman peers through the window of her house in an impoverished area in #KhanYunis. #AFP: image via said khatib @saidkhatib, 4 February 2018
Scenes of clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians demonstrators in the southern Gaza strip city of Khan Yunis. Photo @saidkhatib: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 3 February 2018
Scenes of clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians demonstrators in the southern Gaza strip city of Khan Yunis. Photo @saidkhatib: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 3 February 2018
Scenes of clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians demonstrators in the southern Gaza strip city of Khan Yunis. Photo @saidkhatib: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 3 February 2018
Scenes from the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip. #Refugees #Palestinians Photo @saidkhatib: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 2 February 2018
Scenes from the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip. #Refugees #Palestinians Photo @saidkhatib: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 2 February 2018
Scenes from the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip. #Refugees #Palestinians Photo @saidkhatib: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 2 February 2018
Scenes from the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip. #Refugees #Palestinians Photo @saidkhatib: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 2 February 2018
Un palestino permanece en el interior de su casa a oscuras por culpa de los cortes de electricidad en el campo de refugiados de Rafah, en el sur de la Franja de Gaza; Por @saidkhatib #AFP: image via Agence France-Pressse @AFPespanol, 1 February 2018
GAZA STRIP - Living in the Rafah refugee camp. @saidkhatib #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP. 1 February 2018
GAZA STRIP - Living in the Rafah refugee camp. @saidkhatib #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 1 February 2018
GAZA STRIP - Living in the Rafah refugee camp. @saidkhatib #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP 1 February 2018
GAZA STRIP - #Palestinian demonstrators #clash with #Israeli forces near Khan Yunis. #Jerusalem #afpphoto #afp #AFPTV: image via said khatib @saidkhatib, 28 January 2018
GAZA STRIP - #Palestinian demonstrators #clash with #Israeli forces near Khan Yunis. #Jerusalem #afpphoto #afp #AFPTV: image via said khatib @saidkhatib, 28 January 2018
GAZA STRIP - #Palestinian demonstrators #clash with #Israeli forces near Khan Yunis. #Jerusalem #afpphoto #afp #AFPTV: image via said khatib @saidkhatib, 28 January 2018
GAZA STRIP - #Palestinian demonstrators #clash with #Israeli forces near Khan Yunis. #Jerusalem #afpphoto #afp #AFPTV: image via said khatib @saidkhatib, 28 January 2018
GAZA STRIP - #Palestinian demonstrators #clash with #Israeli forces near Khan Yunis. #Jerusalem #afpphoto #afp #AFPTV: image via said khatib @saidkhatib, 28 January 2018
GAZA STRIP - #Palestinian demonstrators #clash with #Israeli forces near Khan Yunis. #Jerusalem #afpphoto #afp #AFPTV: image via said khatib @saidkhatib, 28 January 2018
GAZA STRIP - #Palestinian demonstrators #clash with #Israeli forces near Khan Yunis. #Jerusalem #afpphoto #afp #AFPTV: image via said khatib @saidkhatib, 28 January 2018
TC,
ReplyDeleteGreat last shot. Each morning I celebrate Palestinian mothers baking everywhere. It's the smell of char that gets this bagel baker, and the fact that they are somebody's mother.
k
Thanks, k. There is no aroma more welcoming. Every time I shuffle past the local bagel shop, I am whisked away, for the duration of the passing. These days, twenty steps = c. 5 minutes. And that's one serious extended aromatic whisking.
ReplyDeleteBTW poem is part II of a quiet birthday set for madame Beyond, who of course deserved better, but is perforce a dab hand at making do, with now a half century of practise.
Um, maybe shd explain she's a Kiwi. Thus the first and third shots. Third shot, with the mysterious stalls, is a racetrack, by the by.
ReplyDelete(I do love that photographer, bobsan88, who captures absence, of which NZ is fortunate to have more than a little, so beautifully, even or perhaps esp when the frame is so pleasingly full.)
I think in Royal parlance you're supposed to address her as "Your Kiwishesness." Check your local PBS listings for confirmation. btw, my Princess of the Hoosieresque shares b'day date w/QE2. 45 years of kneeling. k
ReplyDelete