Menneskehjertet in Gaza by Marina Allemano

I. Menneskehjertet in Gaza – The Human/Humane Heart in Gaza

Abdul, my brother’s friend in Denmark

plays sitting volleyball.

Propelled by his brawny arms

he scoots across the court

like a rock on the ice

never lifts his rear off the floor.

Abdul drives a mighty car

large enough for him

and his power chair on wheels.

Abdul has no legs.

When just a wee kid

in the sliver of Land called G

fifty years ago

he stepped on a mine.

Where was menneskehjertet then?

Where is it now?

II. Fatal Delivery

The DoorDash guy runs

as if chased by the Devil.

But he is not.

He just delivers food

to a slew of peckish folks

in my quiet neighbourhood

safe from killer drones

directed from afar.

In the tiny Land of G

famished babes by the thousands

wait for food and freedom

but are only given dust and death

delivered with precision.

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April 2024 Creative Corner prompt response, published with the author's permission. Copyright © 2024 poem by Marina Allemano. Sign up for our newsletter for a chance to be featured on our blog, Pensieri.

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Marina Allemano

Marina Allemano is a literary translator and writer, formerly a university teacher in Comparative Literature and Scandinavian Studies. She was born and raised in Denmark as M. Petersen, is the granddaughter of a Russian-German woman G. Gutmann, and is now married into an Italian family, the Allemanos. She has translated novels and nonfiction by Danish writers as well as written monographs on women writers in Denmark. Lately she has moved on to translating poetry from Italian. She lives in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada.

Background art credit: Mary Joyce