Desecration of Death: A poem in honor of the Jewish people buried in Philadelphia and St. Louis
Police say more than 100 headstones have been vandalized at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia, damage discovered less than a week after similar vandalism in Missouri. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
A poem in honor of the Jewish people buried in Philadelphia and St. Louis
Desecration of Death
A poem in honor of the Jewish people buriedin Philadelphia and St. Louis
Wake upTo the desecration of death
AncestorsOur SistersAnd mothersNeighbors and brothers
And ourFinal resting place
Disrespected
Bitter hatredA message, that our dead are dirtyThat we do not deserve a resting place
That the symbols of our peopleAre an Offense the white-ness of theSpine-less they must be christ-lessIf their truthIs our painOur deathsatisfactionOur memory, our culture, our ancestorsA threat
Invisible symbols of bloodDripping down our hebrew tombstonesReminds usOf fear and the pastOf Pogroms and of Gas
And we look on nowOur hearts breakingOur lungs emptyOur legs shaking
And we look to eachother,And our peopleAnd those who stand with us
And togetherWe will tryTo keep onbreathing
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