A Poem for All Those Who Cannot be at Public Pro-Palestinian Protests but Support Them

This is a poem for those who cannot be at the protests

This is a walking poem,

not a marching poem.

It is a poem for all those

who cannot be there in person

to walk alongside others

to show support for those suffering

in Gaza, and it’s a poem

for all those people

who find it overwhelming

to be in public, especially

in large groups of people

even if they’d like to show

kinship and participate

in a mass public display

of empathy, in a protest

against the military

state, against the arms trade

and the occupation

of Palestinian lands.

It is for those who would

be there if they could,

but are unwell, or can’t get there,

or have others relying

on them to stay close.

This is a walking poem.

This is not a marching poem

because marching can take

on rhythms that are martial,

though such marching

peaceful marching

counters the martial.

So these marches

have their own poems.

Walking together creates

a circuit of collective

energy that illuminates

and draws others to its

aura without burning them.

Light that is atmospheric

and earthed. That resonates.

It is resolved and committed

and sensitised to the pain

of those on whose behalf

the walking together

is being conducted.

This poem is for those

who can’t be there,

and its lines walk together

and as one, even if it’s

to its own step and to the steps

of all those there on the ground.

This poem is for those

who can’t walk

together on the day

but want to have it known

that they care as deeply.

 

 

            John Kinsella