Before the Gaza Genocide: Thoughts on Hersey’s the Wall
Before the Gaza Genocide: Thoughts on Hersey’s The Wall
By Sam Friedman
Relentless sun.
Dust.
Homes
without water,
without electricity,
without walls.
Before October, the Wall
watched workless weeks,
watched walkers seeking food,
watched belts shrink inwards
while children birthed in dirty ruins
grew gaunt,
birthed babies,
died,
while watched by the hungry eyes of well-fed
sharpshooters
seemingly safe beyond the Wall.
Before the breakout.
Before the Genocide.
Sam Friedman is a long-time socialist and activist. Many know his book Teamster Rank and File or his poetry on organizing socialist workers in the long 1970s: A Precious Residue: Poems that ponder efforts to spark a working class socialism in the 1970s and after. October 17, 2022. https://imhojournal.org/wp-content/uploads/Friedman-S.-2022.-A-Precious-Residue.pdf He is a member of the Ukraine Solidarity Network, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Tempest Collective.