My Dear Friends:
Two of my tanka prose about Israel's war on Gaza are included in Contemporary Haibun Anthology 20, an "annual anthology showcasing a state-of-the-art selection of haibun, tanka prose, and haiga from journals around the world."
The Smell of Sorrow
all day rain ...
the puddles outside
and inside
these ripped plastic shelters
at the edge of Rafah
After the rain, at a camp located roughly a mile away from sandy terrain, strewn with rubbish and debris, men, women and children carry buckets of sand back and forth, back and forth, between their tents and the sandy area. A girl suddenly drops her bucket, then sits on the muddy groud, crying. For a moment, she stares up at the sky as if someone were listening.
Ribbons, 20:1, Winter 2024
(also nominated for the Pushcart Prize by the Tanka Society of America)
it’s peaceful now
M-16 rifles are blooming, 2000-pound bombs singing, and Merkava tanks sweeping the streets.
Gaza is cleaner than ever, clean of blood-covered children. Yet, somewhere among the rubble the only moving thing is a boy’s eyes that look up to Heaven.
a mural
on the separation wall
of the West Bank:
in midair a girl grasps
a bunch of rainbow balloons
Chen-ou
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLXIV: "purity of arms"
Purity of Arms
mosque floor littered
with plaster and broken glass,
rows of Gazan men
with their hands bound behind ...
a soldier tears up a Quran
silhouetted
against pile after pile
of smoky ruins ...
soldiers take smile photos
with their selfie sticks
FYI: Haaretz, Jan. 30 2025:'Army of Militias': Reservist's Explosive Book on Gaza Exposes Israel's War Machine From Within
An ethos of revenge, and dysfunction: An Israeli lieutenant colonel in the reserves – and an anthropologist by profession – based his new book on his war diary, where he talks about an atmosphere of general collapse in the army and Israeli society as a result of Hamas' onslaught
Wikipedia entry: Purity of arms (Hebrew: טוהר הנשק Tohar HaNeshek) is one of the core values listed in the Spirit of the Israel Defense Forces. It is described as the following:
The IDF servicemen and women will use their weapons and force only for the purpose of their mission, only to the necessary extent and will maintain their humanity even during combat. IDF soldiers will not use their weapons and force to harm human beings who are not combatants or prisoners of war, and will do all in their power to avoid causing harm to their lives, bodies, dignity and property.
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