3 poems by Lynn White

A Rose For Gaza

Gaza is a garden full of roses.
Stone roses.
Rock roses.
No petals to crush and bruise
to release their fragrance.
Only dust.
Dust and the stench
of death.
No green space left.
No sweet tranquility,
peace or quiet.
No escape.
No garden of Eden here.
No gateway to paradise.
Rubble and rock roses.

So I shall plant a rose for Gaza
in my green space,
in my tranquil garden.
I won’t bruise it,
just gently sniff its fragrance
and hope that one day
fragrant roses will bloom again
in the garden of Gaza.

What else can I do?


First published by Poets Haven, Vending Machine in Poetry                            for Change Anthology 2014
 
 





Where No One Counts

When will we count the dead in Gaza?
Those buried in named graves we know, 
all the tens of thousands of them,
those buried in the rubble,
the disappeared 
with no one left to name them,
are still unknown
uncounted.

Then the other Disappeared,
prisoners of war
if it were a war,
but with only the rights
of terrorists
who have no rights at all
in this unequal conflict
that some call ‘war’.

And how can we count the injured in Gaza
when there are no hospitals left
and its people don’t count
so no one can count those numbers.
and perhaps no one will
in a country where people don’t count.

Now the starved and starving 
have joined them,
the bags of baby bones
the unaccounted numbers
of intentional famine
in Gaza where still
no one counts.


First published in New Verse News, April 17, 2024






 
Nativity

There are no Magi to adore them now,
the women giving birth 
in ramshackle sheds
or freezing tents
or in the rubble
and cold
and dirt
of what’s left.

There are no Magi to bring gifts,
no shepherds to bring succour
to the women giving birth 
in ramshackle sheds
or freezing tents
or in the rubble
and cold
and dirt
of what’s left.


Maybe artists will paint the scene
but I doubt it.
None are needed
when we can already see,
when we already know
and then we don’t see
anymore.

First published in New Verse News, March 2, 2024

Return to Journal

Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net and a Rhysling Award. https://lynnwhitepoetry.blogspot.com and https://www.facebook.com/Lynn-White-Poetry-1603675983213077/