framing tenderness
Sophia Greco (no affiliation)
IMAGE: My paper collage features the Palestine Sunbird, as photographed by Mohamad Shuaibi (see reference below).
her hands
the tilt of her head
her eyes
I swear I missed you
They said you were martyred
We were about to mourn you, man![1]
she leans in
oh, and the window frames her
her and her relief, her blooming joy
a marked interruption
in the flickering scroll
of horror, profit, empire
it pales!
in the wake of this encounter
this tender, sobering, hopeful youth
*
endurecerse sin perder la ternura[2]
growing tough without losing tenderness
revolutionary tenderness[3]
amidst immense loss
esta lucha Palestina es eterna
es tierna
*
the arid soil surely will remember
blood and bodies
spilling into coastal contours
ash and shrapnel
blanketing torn tents
weathered hands
excavating the executed
pain and trauma
carved into each crevice
this land knows well
these weeping wounds
but the land also knows
living room[4]
the tenderness of poets
reverent in their writing
and the steady beat of songs
in tune with bouncing feet
and journalists
daring witness
and bright-eyed elders
kneeling in prayer
and nimble nurses
practiced and patient
and sun-kissed farmers
tending to olive trees
and warm family kitchens
serving hearty lunch
and giggling children
chasing a kite flying up above[5]
*
I want to keep it as a memory[6]
he hands her the key
it was still in the keyhole
still in the razed door
his hands retrieving
hers receiving
on an island of rubble
through thick tears
she clutches it close
*
looking
and listening
a quick flutter
a camera shutter
a birder
tenderly framing[7]
a sweet little sunbird.[8]
[1] From “A young girl in North Gaza, who aspires to be a journalist, meets up with journalist Hossam Shabat…”. Hossam Shabat. Instagram, June 21, 2024.
[2] Adapted from Che Guevara (note written in guestbook, 1961), as cited in El Pais, 2011.
[3] From My People Shall Live: Autobiography of a Revolutionary. Leila Khaled, NC Press, 1975.
[4] From "Moving Towards Home." June Jordan. Poetry Foundation, 2005.
[5] From "If I Must Die." Refaat Alareer. (2011). World Literature Today.
[6] Adapted from “Give me the key please, I want to keep as a memory for my hous ..” Hisham Shaqrah Abu. Instagram, June 12, 2024.
[7] "‘Sometimes I wonder if I’ll come back’: Palestinian birdwatchers defy danger to scan the skies." Marta Vidal. The Guardian, June 6, 2024.
[8] "Palestine Sunbird, the national bird of Palestine." Mohamad Shuaibi. [Photograph]. Facebook, 2002.
Sophia Greco (she/they) is a queer Chilean Californian writer, unschooler, language nerd, and fruit forager. While working as an educator, Sophia is independently pursuing rhetoric and composition in all forms—poetry, narrative, multilingual, experimental, multimedia, and everything in between. They enjoy life most when collaborating with writers, abolitionists, radical educators, artists, and learners of all ages.
