{"id":1321,"date":"2014-08-02T16:43:33","date_gmt":"2014-08-02T14:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/?p=1321"},"modified":"2014-08-02T17:00:34","modified_gmt":"2014-08-02T15:00:34","slug":"poem-from-gaza-you-have-58-seconds-to-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/2014-08-02\/poem-from-gaza-you-have-58-seconds-to-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Poem from Gaza: You have 58 seconds to run"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

Running Orders<\/b><\/h3>\n

Lena Khalaf Tuffaha<\/i><\/p>\n

They call us now.
\nBefore they drop the bombs.
\nThe phone rings
\nand someone who knows my first name
\ncalls and says in perfect Arabic
\n\u201cThis is David.\u201d
\nAnd in my stupor of sonic booms and glass shattering symphonies
\nstill smashing around in my head
\nI think \u201cDo I know any Davids in Gaza?\u201d
\nThey call us now to say
\nRun.
\nYou have 58 seconds from the end of this message.
\nYour house is next.
\nThey think of it as some kind of
\nwar time courtesy.
\nIt doesn\u2019t matter that
\nthere is nowhere to run to.
\nIt means nothing that the borders are closed
\nand your papers are worthless
\nand mark you only for a life sentence
\nin this prison by the sea
\nand the alleyways are narrow
\nand there are more human lives
\npacked one against the other
\nmore than any other place on earth
\nJust run.
\nWe aren\u2019t trying to kill you.
\nIt doesn\u2019t matter that
\nyou can\u2019t call us back to tell us
\nthe people we claim to want aren\u2019t in your house
\nthat there\u2019s no one here
\nexcept you and your children
\nwho were cheering for Argentina
\nsharing the last loaf of bread for this week
\ncounting candles left in case the power goes out.
\nIt doesn\u2019t matter that you have children.
\nYou live in the wrong place
\nand now is your chance to run
\nto nowhere.
\nIt doesn\u2019t matter
\nthat 58 seconds isn\u2019t long enough
\nto find your wedding album
\nor your son\u2019s favorite blanket
\nor your daughter\u2019s almost completed college application
\nor your shoes
\nor to gather everyone in the house.
\nIt doesn\u2019t matter what you had planned.
\nIt doesn\u2019t matter who you are
\nProve you\u2019re human.
\nProve you stand on two legs.
\nRun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Orders Lena Khalaf Tuffaha They call us now. Before they drop the bombs. The phone rings and someone who knows my first name calls and says in perfect Arabic \u201cThis is David.\u201d And in my stupor of sonic booms and glass shattering symphonies still smashing around in my head I think \u201cDo I know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[33,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-1321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"tag-gaza","8":"tag-israel-war-crimes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}