F.I. Goldhaber

A MATTER OF PRIVILEGE

A few hundred activists --
kidnaped, tormented, abused,
humiliated -- arouse
international outrage,
prosecution threats, sanctions,
investigations, banning
a handful of officials.

But for tens of thousands of
displaced, beaten, raped, tortured,
murdered Palestinians
the world stays silent: turning
deaf ears, blind eyes away from
the countless crimes committed
against natives for decades.

"Western" powers take offense
when Israeli soldiers treat
their citizens as poorly
as Indigenous owners
of the land they occupy
in violation of so-
called international law.

But, every single one of
them ignores, and most support,
ongoing ethnic cleansing
and genocide of peoples
who lived on the land, nurtured
it, built homes, raised families,
grew crops for millennia.

The most egregious offense
which the now-prohibited
politicians are guilty
of is forcing those who are
complicit to confront the
truly repugnant face of
all settlers, occupiers.


F.I.'s YouTube reading of "A Matter of Privilege"


F.I. confesses: As an anti-Zionist Jew, the hypocritical outrage shown by countries who arm Israeli slaughter of Palestinians because IOF soldiers treated their citizens poorly -- but not nearly as despicably as they treat the Indigenous people of the land they illegally occupy -- has been a disgusting display of empire and privilege.

F.I. Goldhaber's words capture people, places, and politics with a photographer's eye and a poet's soul. As a reporter, editor, and business writer, they produced news stories, feature articles, editorial columns, and reviews for newspapers, corporations, governments, and non-profits in five states. Now paper, plastic, electronic, and audio magazines, books, newspapers, calendars, broadsides, and street signs display their poetry, fiction, and essays. Almost 260 of their poems appear in more than 90 publications including What Color is Your Privilege?, their political poetry collection published by Left Fork press. http://www.goldhaber.net/

F.I. Goldhaber

LUNCH

Sorry to learn that your cat disappeared.
It is always best to keep felines and
other pets safe inside. Because there are
majestic Red-tail hawks circling above
who don't distinguish between fur-covered
prey. They just snatch another tasty meal;
their nature and hunger absolving their crime.


F.I.'s YouTube reading of "Lunch"


F.I. confesses: "'Lunch' was inspired by missing pet flyers constantly posted in a neighborhood where Red-tail (as well as Cooper's and Swainson's) hawks and coyotes regularly hunt. In reality, the true criminals are pet owners who allow their furry wards to wander unsupervised and thereby put their lives at risk."

F.I. GOLDHABER's words capture people, places, and politics with a photographer's eye and a poet's soul. As a reporter, editor, and business writer, they produced news stories, feature articles, editorial columns, and reviews for newspapers, corporations, governments, and non-profits in five states. Now paper, plastic, electronic, and audio magazines, books, newspapers, calendars, broadsides, and street signs display their poetry, fiction, and essays. Almost 260 of their poems appear in more than 90 publications including What Color is Your Privilege?, their political poetry collection published by Left Fork press. http://www.goldhaber.net/

F.I. Goldhaber

STAIN
A Fibonacci poem

You
can
wash blood
from your skin,
walls, and floors. Launder
it from most clothing. But rugs are
problematic. So they removed all the carpeting.


F.I.'s YouTube reading of "Stain"


F.I. confesses nothing.

F.I. GOLDHABER's words capture people, places, and politics with a photographer's eye and a poet's soul. As a reporter, editor, and business writer, they produced news stories, feature articles, editorial columns, and reviews for newspapers, corporations, governments, and non-profits in five states. Now paper, plastic, electronic, and audio magazines, books, newspapers, calendars, broadsides, and street signs display their poetry, fiction, and essays. More than 250 of their poems appear in almost 100 publications including What Color is Your Privilege?, their political poetry collection published by Left Fork press. http://www.goldhaber.net/

F.I. Goldhaber

BREAK THE CYCLE
A Fibonacci poem

He
failed.
Again.
Make this the
last time. Replace him
immediately with someone who:
isn't a quisling, has a spine, is a capable
leader, fights fascism and Zionism, and is not doddering toward dementia.


F.I.'s YouTube reading of "Break the Cycle"


F.I. confesses nothing

F.I. GOLDHABER's words capture people, places, and politics with a photographer's eye and a poet's soul. As a reporter, editor, business writer, and marketing communications consultant, they produced news stories, feature articles, editorial columns, and reviews for newspapers, corporations, governments, and non-profits in five states. Now paper, plastic, electronic, and audio magazines, books, newspapers, calendars, broadsides, and street signs display their poetry, fiction, and essays. More than 240 of their poems appear in almost 90 publications including What Color is Your Privilege?, their political poetry collection published by Left Fork press. http://www.goldhaber.net/

F.I. Goldhaber

GET OUT

Get out while you still can, they scream.

But where am I supposed to go?
Even the purple state I live
in provides no refuge from threats.
I can't escape fascists willing
to kill me for being queer; white
supremacists who find my choice
of pronouns problematic; the
anti-Semitic Zionists;
xtian nationalists who have
targeted me all my life for
refusing to embrace someone
whose teachings they ignore; anti-
masking/vaxxing terrorists to
whom my life is worth less than brunch
reservations, concert tickets.

Where in the world can I go to
escape Nazis, bigots, and the
deadliest of them all, climate
catastrophe? One pandemic
never ended, more keep starting
as public health is tossed in the
garbage can of austerity
politics and every day
around the world refugees are
turned away, drowned, sent back home to
die, just as my kin were in the
nineteen thirties. I'm privileged
enough, unlike many, to have
a passport and resources. But
even so, travel is not safe
especially for anyone
disabled or chronically ill.

No matter, where else could I go?


F.I.'s YouTube reading of "Get Out"


F.I. confesses: "Many of us warned that the reactionary, right-wing SCOTUS would reverse decades of civil rights progress. Few believed us. When Roe was overturned and we noted that was just a first step, they scoffed. Now the only -- utterly impractical for many, impossible for most -- solution they offered is to leave?"

F.I. GOLDHABER's words capture people, places, and politics with a photographer's eye and a poet's soul. As a reporter, editor, business writer, and marketing communications consultant, they produced news stories, feature articles, editorial columns, and reviews for newspapers, corporations, governments, and non-profits in five states. Now paper, plastic, electronic, and audio magazines, books, newspapers, calendars, broadsides, and street signs display their poetry, fiction, and essays. More than 240 of their poems appear in almost 90 publications including What Color is Your Privilege?, their political poetry collection published by Left Fork press. http://www.goldhaber.net/