The following words came to me on plane ride from Washington, D.C to Atlanta with my friend Daoud. We were on the way to speak at Emory University and two other sites in the area. I have been struggling for a few years now with how to capture the Israeli authorities control over the lives of Palestinians living in the West Bank. Nearly every phase, every movement of their lives are limited by some unknown entity. Jeff Halper of ICAID called it the "matrix of control".
The Puppeteer
-by Bill Plitt-©11/13
Both hands tied by strings on one end
and attached tightly to figures far below
in distant places, unknown faces.
The Puppeteer controls the movements,
the conversations, and traces of human life
in all its phases.
A little twitch there/here,
the body below moves one step forward,
two steps backward,
all in irregular rhythm,
Unknown, unpredictable, unrelenting.
The walk to the school, the farm, the family;
the job slowed, stopped, mired;
the wounded traveler thwarted by the strings
attached to the head, the arms, the lips, the legs,
stands at the mercy of The Puppeteer -
Not seen, not heard, not human.
How much less water, electricity, food withheld
before the suspended can move no more than just enough,
never entirely free of the strings attached
to the fingers, hands and knees.
Inhumane, unmerciful, unloving, unkind.
And the children, otherwise amused by puppets
performing their stories of moral goodness,
fall prey to the phantom manipulations
as their lives unfold in acceptable order -
Not spontaneous, not free, not hopeful.
A little twitch there/here,
the body below moves one step forward,
two steps backward,
all in irregular rhythm,
How long, oh Puppeteer, can you control
the hearts, minds, and bodies of those innocent souls
who pay double for their water,
move only when permitted, and
build only for it to be demolished?
The answer, of course, is known by a few
who rise up in anger, call out in rage, too,
and demand to be free –
all children of God who, deep down, seek harmony.
