Poetry

Reuters photo

By

Ben White

The Diary of Ahed Tamimi

The world would have celebrated

The act of defiance

If not then, then for sure, after the war

So Anne Frank should have

Slapped the face

Slapped the hell out of the face

Of a Nazi soldier

As the Germans

Jack-booted across

Europe with oppression

Armed with hatred

And blinded by power

Marking the darkening hour

While forcing the vulnerable, weak

And scared to seek refuge

Where they could write diaries

Documenting timeless injustice.

A 12-year old Ahed Tamimi

Was videoed asking soldiers

Who laughed at her

Where they had taken her brother,

And as she passionately pleaded,

Yelling at the soldiers, demanding answers,

She demonstrated characteristics

Of an almost-American nature,

So at 16 years old

It isn’t surprising to hear

She has been arrested

Not for hiding in a dark attic

But for slapping the face

Slapping the hell out of the face

Of an Israeli soldier

A soldier, no doubt,

Raised and conditioned

In a culture embracing

The plight of Anne Frank

Where the army occupies Jerusalem

Adding oppression

To every entry in Ahed’s own

Diary of a young girl.

Ben White

Author of the books, Buddha Bastinado Blues and The Kill Gene, Ben White thought he was a poet, only to find out he is not a poet at all. He is a witness. What he writes is testimony.