A Room of My Own: Five Shekels Tanka

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words,  CLV: "five shekels" 

a telescope 

mounted on a hilltop ...

five shekels (FYI: 1.37 USD)

to see rubble after rubble

under Gaza's smoky skies

FYI: The Guardian, July 20,2024:Israelis gather on hillsides to watch and cheer as military drops bombs on Gaza

People drink, snack and pose for selfies against a background of explosions as Palestinian death toll mounts in ongoing offensive

And Der Spiegel, Dec. 23, 2024: "Within a Year, We Will Be Living in Gaza"

The Israeli army is systematically destroying towns in northern Gaza and expelling the population. It is laying the groundwork for a military occupation - and for the possible construction of new Jewish settlements.

There is a telescope mounted on a hilltop outside the Gaza Strip. Here, on the outskirts of the Israeli city of Sderot, you can pay five shekels to watch the war at a magnification of 25x.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words,  CLV: "war tourism" 

clouds of smoke and fire ....

through the telescope viewfinder

on a hilltop

Israeli tourists don't see the war

but vision a future of houses

FYI:  Der Spiegel, Dec. 23, 2024: "Within a Year, We Will Be Living in Gaza"

The Fenton family at the hilltop viewpoint near Sderot...When one detonation sends up a particularly large cloud of smoke, Fenton exults: "How beautiful! How beautiful! How beautiful! Thanks be to God!”

"The path we are being led down is one of conquest, annexation and ethnic cleansing,” warned the former Israeli general, Netanyahu’s defense minister during the 2014 Gaza War, Moshe Ya’alon in an early December television interview. "There is no Beit Lahiya anymore, no Beit Hanoun, the army is intervening in Jabaliya, and in truth, the land is being cleansed of Arabs.” Israel is threatening to become a "corrupt and leprous fascist messianic state.”

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words,  CLVI: "Palestine sunbirds" 

the pause between fireballs ...

a burst of colors

Palestine sunbirds in flight 

FYI: The Palestine sunbird is the national bird of Palestine, a symbol of Palestinian resistance and freedom

Added:

Chinese fried dough

crumbled into black coffee ...

home away from home