Numbers

Abstract

Prior to October 2023, I knew embarassingly little about the ongoing occupation of Palestine, and it wasn't until I reconnected with a childhood friend that I started to really pay attention to what had been happening following the October 7th attack. I knew of Israel's military capacity and the seemingly limitless support by the United States, but it wasn't until I began to follow grassroot media and civilians in Gaza that I understood the true extent of the conflict. Each day since, I've been struggling to comprehend why the my community and my country as a whole seems to remain largely unaffected. I've struggled with understanding why I can scroll through videos of homes reduced to rubble, testaments to history ---libraries, mosques, etc.--- reduced to ash, and dead children, only to find clips of Taylor Swift and Travic Kelce or edits of the new Hunger Games movie sprinkled in between. The kind of nonchalence and willful ignorance I've seen from strangers and loved ones has been such a surreal thing to experience. I've been writing a lot of poetry to cope with it, and this was one of those poems.