THINKING ABOUT THE NEWS I PICK WILD RASPBERRIES

by Bonnie Naradzay

Israeli forces have concluded their largest-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin in decades, killing at least 12 Palestinians and leaving widespread destruction across the city’s refugee camp. —CNN, July 5, 2023. The Israeli military says all of the at least 12 Palestinians killed in its near 48-hour operation were combatants, and that its operation aimed to break the mindset that Jenin is a “safe haven” for militants. But the Palestinian fighters parading through the streets in broad daylight, with weapons strapped to their chests, showed that they remain unbroken and defiant. The Jenin Brigade, a faction affiliated with the wider Islamic Jihad group, said eight of the dead, ranging in age from 16- to 21-years-old, came from among their ranks. Meanwhile, United Nations experts have stated that five children were among the dead. Muhammad Darwish Photo: The back wall of Hanaa al-Shalaby's daughters' room was blown out, leaving chunks of rubble on a small bed. —CNN, July 7, 2023

Walking along the road to the metro,

I have read that of 12 killed so far, 

5 were children. The IDF claimed

they were all terrorists. The clusters

of raspberries are red and I eat them.

Over 1,000 soldiers supported 

by missile-carrying drones

invaded dense neighborhoods.

IDF means Israel Defense Force;

it withdrew with its armored cars 

from the Jenin refugee camp only 

after depriving families of electricity, 

water; after smashing roads to rubble;

after blocking ambulances trying to reach

the wounded, after invading hospitals

and detonating canisters of tear gas there.

The raspberries are still safe to eat.

The news says Israel is buying 25 

more F-35 stealth fighter jets from 

the U.S. for free; the deal is financed 

through U.S. military aid: nearly 

$4 billion given outright to Israel 

every year no matter what; 

not as loans to be paid back.

I turn back to the raspberries, 

remembering that time I ate ripe

mulberries from a tree in the park. 

The UN observer on tv said Jenin, 

in the Occupied West Bank,

is in Area A, which is supposedly 

under the sole control of Palestine.  

Meanwhile Israel launched airstrikes 

attacking Gaza again. I pay my fare 

at the metro, go downtown 

to the homeless shelter, and share 

poems by Tu Fu and Langston Hughes.

Bonnie Naradzay’s recent poems are in AGNI, New Letters, Kenyon Review, Tampa Review,  Birmingham Poetry Review, Crab Creek Review, and many other sites. She was awarded the New Orleans MFA’s poetry prize:  a month’s stay in the South Tyrol castle (in the Dolomites) of Ezra Pound’s daughter Mary. For many years, she has led regular poetry sessions at shelters for the homeless and at a retirement center, all in Washington, DC. 

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