Vox Populi

A curated webspace for Poetry, Politics, and Nature with over 20,000 daily subscribers and over 8,000 archived posts.

Abby Zimet: In What Is Called A War (Trigger Warning — graphic violence)

Over 420 children a day are killed or injured, roughly one every 10 minutes; over 2,000 children are missing under the rubble, and likely dead; 70% of the dead are children and women…

November 2, 2023 · 10 Comments

Ori Hanan Weisberg: Israel’s War Cabinet

Hamas is annihilationist…. But they aren’t a regional power, don’t outnumber us, and don’t have nearly the military capabilities of the IDF. What they did on October 7 was horrific. But they aren’t building gas chamber or lining us up in front of pits.

October 31, 2023 · 9 Comments

Zeina Azzam, Andy Young, David Adès: Three poems about Gaza

Only the children, terrified, wide-eyed,
have no complicity as we lead them, again,
sacrificial lambs to the slaughter.

October 30, 2023 · 8 Comments

Kathy Engel: What’s Another Word for Genocide

in April you told my students
a poem starts anywhere one
small drop of water traveling

October 21, 2023 · 5 Comments

Julia Conley: Biden Staffers Report Silencing of Dissent in White House on Gaza Horror

Numerous staff members have had interactions in the last week and a half that left them feeling as though any criticism of Israel’s U.S.-backed onslaught in Gaza, which has killed roughly 3,450 Palestinians, will not be tolerated.

October 19, 2023 · 7 Comments

Abby Zimet: A Hundred Eyes For An Eye

Humanism that unites people across ethnic and religious lines…An international left rooted in values that side with the child over the gun every single time, no matter whose gun and no matter whose child.

October 17, 2023 · 14 Comments

Yehuda Amichai: God has Pity on Kindergarten Children

God has pity on kindergarten children. He has less pity on school children And on grownups he has no pity at all, he leaves them alone, and sometimes they must … Continue reading

October 15, 2023 · 12 Comments

Kimberly Parish Davis: Forever and Ever

…they watched television or surfed around the Internet for news about what was going on in Palestine. There had been a lot of fighting—a lot of bombed out buildings. One website told about the attack at the School where Hanna’s little brother was killed, and she was probably dealing with that while Emma was news surfing.

August 19, 2022 · 6 Comments

Tamara Nassar: Israel’s Savagery in Gaza Claims the Lives of More Children

Israel is able to perpetrate this violence against them thanks to the international impunity and support it continues to enjoy, especially from the United States, Canada, and the European Union.

August 11, 2022 · 5 Comments

Julia Conley: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Defender of Human Rights in South Africa and Beyond, Dies at 90

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

December 27, 2021 · 1 Comment

Haya El-Refai: Laya’s first Eid

When war comes, it steals everything: souls, memories, homes, happiness, love and safety. Instead, it brings fear, blood, death, darkness and terror.

September 9, 2021 · 10 Comments

Hanan Abukmail: A Doctor’s Torment

Weeks have gone by since the fourth Israeli war on Gaza came to a close. And although the world has moved on, we in Gaza are left to pick up the pieces. And me? I find myself questioning my decision to become a physician.

August 3, 2021 · 3 Comments

Naomi Shihab Nye, Michael Simms & Friends: Poets for the People of Gaza

Naomi Shihab Nye, the current Young People’s Poet Laureate, and poet Michael Simms gather international poets to share works that navigate themes of identity, displacement, and home in Gaza.

July 1, 2021 · 8 Comments

Steve Kowit: Intifada

bekippad Sabras dance thru the Tel Aviv streets chanting
gleefully: No school tomorrow in Gaza; all of their children are dead. 

June 15, 2021 · 3 Comments

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