Can I Just Be Pissed-Off Today?

It’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. My Facebook feed is its own ritual; poignant and weepy. Each post is like another beautiful bouquet laid on a grave. This story about a grandparent; that one about a hero; another about a legacy.

So I sat down, bawled my eyes out and tried to string together my own small bouquet of words. But it came out angry and defiant, not particularly beautiful, and most likely offensive. So forgive me in advance, but the world is still a scary place and I’m mostly just pissed off today.

Shoah

It’s this fathomless
deep crease
that will not be decreased
even by time
and a hundred-thousand ceaseless
therapies.
It is a part of us now – this haunting –
and we can only hope to make the most
of the least
to make the best of the worst
thing that could possibly be.

At the very least
I see how we walk sturdy with knowing
we were the ones willing
to give up everything
to lose life, limb & children
just because were yidden.

And even if we weren’t CoNsCiouSly willing
to be the world’s archetypal victims
deep down in our souls
it seems we signed an agreement
intoned in bones
at the dawn of time
to be a human sacrifice
for a globe-full of guilt.

And perhaps it isn’t just a Christian
metaphor after all
that he ‘died for our sins’
that thin-as-bone Jewish man
hanging there
hammered in.

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That crucifixion is no fiction.
It is the black and white facts of
Jewish history.
It is our mission hidden
in plain sight.

We did it then and we will again
– as the world demands –
offer ourselves up
death-defying
and doin’ just fine, thank you very much.

So bring on your hatred, cruel world
your very best BDS B.S.
your sliest Hamas
your vilest lies and Isis
don’t surprise us…

Hit us with your best shot
and we will hit it out the stadium
just like then
the only difference
is we the home-team now
our dry bones
dance on home ground, holy ground
sewn with ashes
on our countenance
we are the risen
ones
resurrected
into Israel and her settlements,
yes, even into the world’s
most-protested settlements…

A little acknowledgment
wouldn’t hurt us…
but then again
the world’s silence
is just extra credit
on the test we aced
at Auschwitz.