This poem is inspired by a few things.
Firstly, the fact there are more childhood amputees in Gaza than any other recorded worldwide conflict. Due to the catastrophic condition of the hospitals in Gaza, amputations are now largely done without anaesthetic. I can’t get either of those two facts out of my head.
Secondly, I listened to a podcast recently with Dr Ghassan Abu-Sitta who is a renowned British-Palestinian Surgeon who spent 43 days in Gaza in the early weeks of the escalating Genocide since 7th October. When he tried to return, he was denied entry. One of the things that stuck in my head was when he said, “the children’s bodies will tell the story of Palestine.”
From a completely different world, I remember an episode of Grey’s Anatomy after Arizona lost her leg. One of the things she grappled with most was phantom pain. The most excruciating pain in her missing limb. Of course, I googled phantom pain to see if it was real and it is. Phantom Pain is something that may never go away for amputees.
Finally, in every child of Palestine, I see Archie and Rissie, and I just can't.
Phantom Poets of Palestine
by Lara Flanagan
Two tiny little perfect feet
and ten tiny little toes,
kissed one by one by moonlight,
butterfly kisses on a tiny nose.
Two tiny little perfect hands
and ten tiny fingertips,
twinkle, twinkle little star,
precious smiles from rosy lips.
Little feet that will never run,
footsteps only heard in tortured dreams,
will never feel the sun upon their skin,
nights broken by fevered screams.
Missing limbs that became storylines,
that will tell of endless pain,
aching desperate phantom poets
who will write, “it was meant to be never again.
Never again,
Never again,
Never again.”
Ten tiny little perfect toes
and ten perfect fingertips.
Sources for verification:
Podcast:
Comments