Compromismo/2 (Reading/3)
Dear Professor So last night I went with my friends to this bar The same bar they’ve been going to for two years Drinking the same overpriced drinks they always drink Making the same chit-chat…
Category: Dear Layla Welcome to Palestine
Holding It All
At a break during our all-day strategy meeting Yasmin told me She never felt more hopeless Than when she walked the roads of Rafah (Ruins to the left Rubble to the right) And all the…
Email from Larry Friedberg in Haifa (Reading/6)
Dear Professor One of your former students told my daughter To tell me that I should read your book So I did I read it in two days I want to thank you You articulated…
The Slow Fix
This isn’t the Sudden Enlightenment School By a long shot It’s the Show-up-Each-Day- Sit-Down-and-Shut-up-School It’s meditating morning and night Then gathas throughout the day It’s tending to the garden of the mind And smiling to…
In Praise of Fairuz
While on my walk The soft, tender voice of Fairuz was borne to me on the breeze As if coming from an ethereal howdah: “One day we shall return to our neighborhood….” Fairuz’s voice, in…
Sleepless (Life under Occupation/12)
Dear Carla, It’s 5 a.m. and I’ve been up 24 hours We visited a family yesterday The first two hours She beheld her brother Who was home after two years in prison: “How much weight…
Rant/1 (Welcome to Palestine/2)
From an internet cafe Somewhere on the outskirts of Ramallah 80 degrees and sunny outside Dear Layla So in your last email (Which I’ve read four times as of this morning) You wanted to know…
Gratitude Journal/4
Thank you, Katie Consamus, for responding pronto to my needy request for feedback. Whoosh, you delivered big time! I’m in a new phase of the journey, time to kick it like karate and finish this…
A Response to Dear Layla Welcome to Palestine
I received this generous message recently from Sarah Nash, who is a sophomore at SLU. Mark, I’m not even sure where to begin this email! I guess I could start with a huge THANK YOU….
The Path of Language (Compromismo/7)
For the last several years Henry’s friend David Harbrecht Had been paying attention to the drama of the Palestinian struggle Once he visited He was moved in his viscera He then made a decision There…