Poet's Nook: "Breaking The Silence" by Brian Carlin

“People at the school sat -
hours in the sun.

They could get water
once in a while,

but let’s say some kid asked for water

five times,

a soldier could come to him and slap him
just like that.
I saw many soldiers using their knees
to hit them,

just out of boredom.

Because
you’re standing around for 10 hours doing nothing,
you’re bored,

so you hit them.

At the bathroom, there was this ‘demons’ dance’
as it was called.
Anyone who brought a Palestinian there –
it was catastrophic.

Not bleeding beatings –
they stayed dry –

but still beatings.”

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(The poet of this piece  stated that this poem was inspired by an article he had read in a newspaper  detailing an Israeli soldier's testimonial to a veterans organization which deeply affected him. The whole poem is an uninterrupted quote from an Israeli soldier and only has a couple of words changed for the sake of the read…Very impressive even though quite sad & brutal.)

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OneLove

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:::MME:::