Saturday, December 2, 2023

Renee Rodin : Not In My Name

 

 

 

 

Years ago I realized Palestinians might see me as their
tormentor. It made me less afraid of Germans, a fear I'd
carried around since childhood.  

This latest hell, a family feud. Semites. My people in
Israel, my cousins in Gaza. Hostages to history.
"War crimes" we cry as if war itself weren't a crime.

Clutching my remote control I watch the rubble grow.
The corpses piling up. Parents had written names on
their children's legs to identify them for burial.

I'm as deflated as an old helium balloon, my neighbour
says, "chin up, you only go around once." Fuelled by
cellular memory we go around many times.

We cover the mirror when we sit shiva because to see
our grief would be unbearable. Then we look again to
be able to see ourselves in the faces of others.

 

 

 

 

Renee Rodin lives in Vancouver on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish people. Her books include Bread and Salt (Talonbooks, 1996) and Subject to Change (Talonbooks, 2010) and the chapbook, Ready for Freddy (Nomados, 2005). She has writing in recent issues of The Capilano Review and Some Magazine. She is a mother and a grandmother.