Short Campuses Poems

I
The word, when said
Makes some go dead
The sound of dog (she)

II
Most beaches lead somewhere
Some beaches lead nowhere
Truth or dare (campuses
Have grassy, waterless beaches)

III
Dickinson: words begin living
"when it is said" (not dead)
Emily knew of flight
In Fight to write...

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In the 60’s we protested
Out on the quads
With our armbands and banners and signs
‘Til the rage manifested
By police riot squads
Put a damper on all our designs.

We erected no tents
And we went home to sleep
But were sure we could orchestrate change.
Yet these current events
Which on campuses sweep
Seem, to me, very different and strange.
...

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Purim

A Jewish celebration of salvation
from the hands of the vile Haman
Esther and Mordecai stood up for their people
even while fearing for their lives
Haman was made to pay for his guilt
and hung from the gallows he had built

Antisemitism is again on the rise
who will stand up against this vile
movement that is even in the halls
of Congress with the Squad
Who will be the modern Esthers
and Mordecais on college campuses
to stem this rising flood
...

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