CPTnet
April 5, 2004

HEBRON/AMMAN POEM: Plastic Tumbleweeds

by Greg Rollins

[Note: Greg Rollins wrote the following poem after visiting Palestinian
refugee camps in Jordan, where he was waiting to find out if the Israeli
Ministry of the Interior will reverse its decision denying him entry into
Israel. (See March 11 and 12, 2004 CPTnet Urgent Actions.) While the
Ministry re-examines his case, Rollins is participating in a CPT delegation
to Iraq.]

From their shops and from their homes

Forgotten plastic tumble weeds

Blow past people displaced and fading

Down sand-strewn streets of surrender

Over black ash of tires

They billow and boast on the snag of a branch

They collapse upon shins as they pass through the camps

And nobody stops them

Nobody cares

They're ignored for destinations that lie straight ahead

At the edge of the cities the weeds continue to tumble

Across rocky ground

Above dry river beds

Until even the winds desert them for ignorance

And the plastic weeds find themselves in waste

In the stillness the weeds become rooted

Collect on the dirt and dream of rage

Baked in dust

Under the desert sun the weeds wait and wither