WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.120 align:middle line:90%


00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:08.660 align:middle line:84%
In 2018, Palestinians
living in Gaza,

00:00:08.660 --> 00:00:11.480 align:middle line:84%
over 80% of whom
are already refugees

00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:15.480 align:middle line:84%
from other parts of
Palestine, decided

00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:19.160 align:middle line:84%
that they were tired of waiting
for the right of return.

00:00:19.160 --> 00:00:21.720 align:middle line:84%
We talked this morning in
class about the right of return

00:00:21.720 --> 00:00:25.400 align:middle line:84%
being an individual human right
that every refugee in the world

00:00:25.400 --> 00:00:26.240 align:middle line:90%
has.

00:00:26.240 --> 00:00:28.320 align:middle line:84%
So they were tired after
decades and decades

00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:31.400 align:middle line:84%
of waiting to go home and
decided they would just get up

00:00:31.400 --> 00:00:34.220 align:middle line:84%
and walk to the border,
because in many cases,

00:00:34.220 --> 00:00:38.800 align:middle line:84%
the ancestral villages and
towns that these people are from

00:00:38.800 --> 00:00:41.480 align:middle line:90%
are within walking distance.

00:00:41.480 --> 00:00:46.080 align:middle line:84%
And that is described in the
United States as "nonviolent

00:00:46.080 --> 00:00:47.680 align:middle line:90%
resistance."

00:00:47.680 --> 00:00:51.840 align:middle line:84%
So Palestinians engaging in that
nonviolent resistance in Gaza

00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:54.760 align:middle line:84%
were met with
Israeli sniper fire.

00:00:54.760 --> 00:00:57.680 align:middle line:84%
And so for Friday
after Friday, families

00:00:57.680 --> 00:01:01.050 align:middle line:84%
would come and just
walk to the border.

00:01:01.050 --> 00:01:02.570 align:middle line:90%
And they would get shot at.

00:01:02.570 --> 00:01:04.530 align:middle line:90%
And this went on for months.

00:01:04.530 --> 00:01:08.090 align:middle line:84%
So this poem
commemorates that time.

00:01:08.090 --> 00:01:13.930 align:middle line:90%
Variations on a Last Chance

00:01:13.930 --> 00:01:17.450 align:middle line:90%
The fence does not hold.

00:01:17.450 --> 00:01:23.570 align:middle line:84%
The wire sheds its barbs,
softens to silk thread.

00:01:23.570 --> 00:01:26.610 align:middle line:90%
The snipers run out of bullets.

00:01:26.610 --> 00:01:33.610 align:middle line:84%
The desert, as it always has,
of its own volition, blooms.

00:01:33.610 --> 00:01:38.210 align:middle line:84%
The snipers are distracted,
sexting their girlfriends.

00:01:38.210 --> 00:01:43.850 align:middle line:84%
The snipers' eyes are blinded
by smoke from our burning tires.

00:01:43.850 --> 00:01:48.450 align:middle line:84%
The snipers wonder if they
will ever see the end of us.

00:01:48.450 --> 00:01:51.490 align:middle line:90%
The fence does not hold.

00:01:51.490 --> 00:01:54.210 align:middle line:90%
The snipers take a lunch break.

00:01:54.210 --> 00:01:57.870 align:middle line:84%
The bullets melt
in their chambers.

00:01:57.870 --> 00:01:59.710 align:middle line:84%
The bullets
disintegrate when they

00:01:59.710 --> 00:02:04.230 align:middle line:84%
reach the word PRESS
on Yasser's vest.

00:02:04.230 --> 00:02:09.270 align:middle line:84%
The news finally breaks
the stillness around us.

00:02:09.270 --> 00:02:14.710 align:middle line:84%
The bullets will themselves
away from the boy's skull.

00:02:14.710 --> 00:02:18.150 align:middle line:84%
The boy's sandals
sprout wings and he

00:02:18.150 --> 00:02:22.070 align:middle line:90%
hovers above the bullets' path.

00:02:22.070 --> 00:02:25.230 align:middle line:84%
The snipers lose interest
in shooting at medics

00:02:25.230 --> 00:02:28.230 align:middle line:90%
evacuating the wounded.

00:02:28.230 --> 00:02:33.670 align:middle line:84%
The snipers make eye contact
with one of us and see.

00:02:33.670 --> 00:02:38.270 align:middle line:84%
There are enough saline
bags at the hospital.

00:02:38.270 --> 00:02:44.350 align:middle line:84%
The snipers shoot and
miss and miss and miss.

00:02:44.350 --> 00:02:47.070 align:middle line:90%
We outrun the snipers.

00:02:47.070 --> 00:02:50.670 align:middle line:84%
We bury the dead at the
fence, let their roots

00:02:50.670 --> 00:02:54.140 align:middle line:90%
reach the other side of home.

00:02:54.140 --> 00:02:57.000 align:middle line:90%