tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post1547890103730136453..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Mahmoud Darwish: WordsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-33339642078294405642015-03-21T07:06:56.040-07:002015-03-21T07:06:56.040-07:00Terrible that we must once again assemble in sorro...Terrible that we must once again assemble in sorrow to lament the eclipsed and the forgotten -- echoing the sadness of Sayed Kashua, the pain deep and old and the cruelty unremitting.<br /><br />There had been the foolish moment of impossible hope.<br /><br />Hilton's words, eloquent, heartbreaking.<br /><br />The EU report leaked yesterday suggests Jerusalem is once again approaching boiling point -- as Bibi triumphantly trucks in yet more "settlers", thumbing his nose once more at the EU, UN, O'B, and, well, everybody.<br /><br />The walking dead Israeli majority is fruitless and barren, settlers must be trucked in because the dead cannot give birth.<br /><br />A friend from the West Bank whose village has been walled-off for many years, and whose large family has suffered bitterly from the apartheid policies, surprised me, following a return visit to his home shortly after the cessation of the awful white phosphorus-lit terror-bombing campaign of Dec. 08-Jan. 09, by saying that, despite everything, "no one's giving up hope". <br /><br />I asked what might be the source of this forlorn hope. <br /><br />"We will win in the end."<br /><br />He is an intelligent and worldly man. His confidence, if that's what it was -- how do we translate sumud, steadfastness, perseverance, we who do not have it? -- shook me.<br /><br />"But..." I stumbled... "how?"<br /><br />"Simple," he said. "We're a lot better at making babies."<br /><br />And now we're shipping over John Boehner on an unofficial state visit. The "victory lap," they're calling it in Bibi's camp.<br /><br />If any man ever qualified as a walking poster for birth control, it's got to be John Boehner.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-47387699040738517782015-03-21T01:38:04.964-07:002015-03-21T01:38:04.964-07:00So much terrifying beauty in so few words.So much terrifying beauty in so few words.vazambam (Vassilis Zambaras)https://www.blogger.com/profile/14515165428574974933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-2328937543950310412015-03-20T22:35:48.571-07:002015-03-20T22:35:48.571-07:00Thank you for this wonderful post, Tom.
Given the...Thank you for this wonderful post, Tom.<br /><br />Given the eclipse, I thought of Genet's:<br /><br /><br />Eclipse is a word full meaning. In addition to the sun, which is even more evident when eclipsed by the moon, every event, man or image eclipsed by someone or something also emerges regenerated; however brief their disappearance, they emerge clearer and brighter than before...in French the reflexive verb s'eclipser, literally to eclipse oneself, hovers between the usual meaning, to slip away, escape, and the figurative connotation to disappear because of the brightness of another.<br /><br />b.billoohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10716970909272480118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-76566338569919422982015-03-20T16:17:07.861-07:002015-03-20T16:17:07.861-07:00In the wake of the last assault on Gaza all sweet ...In the wake of the last assault on Gaza all sweet and reasonable discourse is shot to pieces.<br /><br />Don't know why I was surprised when I heard about that old crook's reelection but I was. I'd expected some kind of critical response to all that racist rhetoric and violence.<br /><br />Voices like wheat and thunder, like the sound of rushing waters: the only kind of honest talk right now.<br /><br />Thank you for showing the photos of Ahmad Swafiri. Once again Beyond the Pale offers us the news that matters.<br /><br />Hilton, you're right. Getting dirty is the just thing, the only way to counter all the talk of purity, of us and them.<br /><br />Mose23https://www.blogger.com/profile/01100756913131511440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-33523699359096343992015-03-20T11:22:16.908-07:002015-03-20T11:22:16.908-07:00Beautiful and, as always, painful. I wrote this ri...Beautiful and, as always, painful. I wrote this right after the election in Israel for Passover coming soon. Add your own words to the Haggadah:<br /><br />Treyf Pesach<br /><br />This year I am observing a Treyf Pesach. <br /><br />Help me sweep the chometz back into the house, for we need to get dirty. <br /><br />Help me replace the wine with whiskey, lots of it, so we can forget the horror. <br /><br />Once we were slaves, and now we are slaves again. <br /><br />Instead of matzo symbolizing the haste in which we fled slavery, stack up slices of white bread, any kind of leavened bread because now Pharaoh Bibi holds our people in thrall. <br /><br />Chop up the apples and nuts to represent all the Palestinian houses blown up. <br /><br />Eat the bitter herbs to remember how the beauty of our culture has been infused with hate. <br /><br />Slap down a pork chop rib to remember how all of the hopes and dreams of freedom have turned ugly, have turned to blood, have become a vile joke. <br /><br />Eat the slimy kale to recall all the olive trees torn out of the ground.<br /><br />Dip the leafy slime into the salt water to cry over how young kids lording over old men at checkpoints.<br /><br />Eat the horseradish to recall the bitterness of lies in our name. Shove spoonfuls of horseradish down each other’s throats so we can never forget what we have done. <br /><br />Put the egg in the center to recall that once we were a people rich with variety and joy and now we are a cartoon of ourselves – but even then spring will come, maybe, if the warming earth allows.<br /><br />Why is this night different from all other nights? It’s not, it’s the same old story of using our own pain to cause the pain of others.<br /><br />The foolish child is the only wise one around. He says, I want to get out of here, I’d rather live in Berlin or LA than stomp on other people and call that democracy.<br /><br />The wise child is a fool, asking why he can’t get lower rent and doesn’t notice the bloated settlements.<br /><br />Let the girls sing the new Dayenu. <br /><br />We build walls to choke another people – Enough Already. <br /><br />We in America and Europe are told to come and be ruled by Pharaoh Bibi – Enough Already. <br /><br />Bombs and more bombs will make us safe – Enough Already. <br /><br />Once we were slaves and now we are slaves again – Enough Already. <br /><br />Beat up the stranger in our midst – Enough Already.<br /><br />And American Jews look on and say nothing, as they have said nothing for decades – Enough Already.<br /><br />Let us feast on our bitterness and loss. Let us gulp down the whiskey so we can forget.<br /><br />Next year leave Jerusalem alone.<br /><br />Hiltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04497545378045907642noreply@blogger.com