what power do you have that you are not currently exercising?

My soul is disturbed, because it is intact.

I’m writing to you today out of my usual weekly rhythm,
because Rafah is burning.

Image by Maisara Boroud. You can follow his art here, or read more about his work in this Guardian article

I don’t have words for what is happening in Gaza anymore.
I don’t know of a way to write about this horror.

But I am writing to you weekly about all sorts of other things – joy, running, my grandmother, my womb, and all the time this genocide is continuing.

My child, as I stroke his nose to sleep, is not burning, he is not decapitated, he is not sitting on a filthy floor in his own rotting flesh. But other parents, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers who have like me, like you, birthed and bathed and sang to and rocked and cradled and stroked noses before sleep, their children, those they love, are all these things – burning, headless, destroyed, and more, and more, and more.

Yes, we continue to do the supermarket shop, meet friends for coffee, pick up our kids from school, decide on what colour to paint our walls. Yes, we must continue to write and draw and make art. But it is also our job to be a witness, and to take on the full responsibility of this role. We are seeing this unfold on our screens, we are watching the live-streaming of a genocide. Those children are ours.

I read today on Black Liturgies Instagram page these questions ::

What power do you have that you are currently not exercising? What is 1 tangible act of advocacy and solidarity that you can do today with what power you have?

What sensations are awake in your body today? Where are you carrying tension? Where do you feel fear, rage, power, sorrow?

How do you distinguish deliberate obliviousness and escapism from rest and repair?

INHALE: My soul is disturbed EXHALE: because it is intact.

And so I am sending this short message to you all, so that we can each ask, what is one tangible thing I can do today to add my voice to the call to stop this hell unfolding?

As an aid, for those of you based in Ireland

Legless In Dublin

has written this post with some practical actions you can take.

Today, my actions are to write this post, and to write to my public representatives to call for sanctions on Israel and to call on them to do all they can to make. this. stop.

In love,

Layla x