By Dee Allen
PROMPT — The way I see it ...
The way I see it
That little symbol
Seen everywhere now
Copies a move from a chameleon
Doing its best
Imitation of a
Clear morning sky,
Doing its best
Imitation of still
Swimming pool water.
That little geometric shape--
Four sharp corners--
A cube the prettiest hue the sea can be
Signifies taking a stand
Against the rising tide
Wide and renewed
Against the people
Who have Semitic blood,
Against the tongue that's Hebrew--
I understand this hatred well:
The strong dislike
For who's different.
Our two peoples
Have endured
Slavery in the past.
Then we escaped and rebelled.
Those facts should
Make us natural allies.
Knowledge or ignorance of long-ago
Oppression encourages some to act
Like oppressors. Those unlike them are "lesser than."
Their hate speech the world over,
Their war moves on Gaza
Paints the bullseye on a whole people.
I am neither
Pro-Zionist nor
Pro-Israel.
Never mind state borders.
Never mind religious faith.
I am pro-you.
I knew you to be
Decent before you
Revealed your ethnicity. Therefore,
I support you.
As a woman.
As a writer.
I will stand
At your side
When scorn comes chasing you
And defend
Your humanity in battle
As I would for any friend.
The way I see it
I don't need no blue square
To show solidarity with you.
Just my ally-ship is sufficient.
Dee Allen is an African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California. Active on creative writing & Spoken Word since the early 1990s, he is the author of 9 books — Boneyard, Unwritten Law, Stormwater, Skeletal Black (all from POOR Press), Elohi Unitsi (Conviction 2 Change Publishing), Rusty Gallows: Passages Against Hate (Vagabond Books), Plans (originally Nomadic Press, now re-issued from Black Lawrence Press ), Crimson Stain (EYEPUBLISHEWE), and his newest, Discovery (Southern Arizona Press) — plus has 75 anthology appearances under his figurative belt so far.
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