My Trees

Trees are wonderful!

I love trees!

When I was a kid and had a birthday

Or did well in Hebrew School,

What did get?  A tree!

A tree was planted in Israel in my name,

What could be better?

What could be more ecological?

In the empty Negev,

They planted your Jewish tree. 

Screw the Nazis and plant a tree!

And you got a certificate

And imagined that someday when you went to Israel

You would look up your tree

And it would have your name on it.

But I grew up and

God forbid any of these trees

Planted on top of stolen Bedouin villages

In the not at all empty Negev

Have my name on them. 

These killer trees,

Planted in an ecology 

Where they don't belong,

Stealing water they shouldn't have

On land that isn't theirs.

I want my trees back!

I want to sell them

To buy some food for Gaza. 

And don’t shoot anyone 

When they try to pick it up.  

Amen

A Prayer That Insists on Hope

 

Blessed One-ness,

We hope. 

We struggle

And try to survive the onslaught 

Of the selfish and angry ones, 

Survive and look for ways to help. 

 

We hope that the despair lifts

And the objects of the bulllies

Outlast the cruelty, 

Survive and are repaired

As best we can. 

The fear is everywhere. 

Clearly the plan is

To wear us down

But this we know—

As individuals we will hurt. 

And we may suffer

And our hearts may break

And we may die, but

As a holy whole

We go on. 

Upon this we insist 

Always and forever:

We have hope. 

And we give thanks. 

Amen

A Prayer For The Pursuit of Happiness

As you enter Prospect Park  

On a hot summer’s day

There should be the usual 

Hazy wall of meaty smoke and music

From barbecues and parties

Annoying the gentry

As families without back yards

Party with their grills and birthday banners,

Feliz Cumpleanos!

But this year if you are brown,

Instead of the park

There is the Alligator Alcatraz 

And other money making concentration camps—

No beds, little food

No doctors, no hope. 

Renting out slaves

Destroying families,

Destroying fun.  

Death and Detention 

And the destruction of hope

Are offered in the place of

Life and Liberty 

And The Pursuit of Happiness. 

Shame upon us all.  

We must pray for the strength to defy evil,

It is this holiday’s tradition.

Happy Fourth of July!

Amen